Toy
by instance
Summary: All Haruhi wanted in life was to get through school relatively unscathed. Hikaru and Kaoru have just found their new toy in the form of a very pretty, intelligent, and highly oblivious female scholarship student.
1. Chapter 1

Two large, chocolate-colored orbs gazed up at the magnificent archway: the entrance of Ouran High School. If the owner of the eyes, a slim girl with long brown hair, had possessed any awe or wonder for the magnificent school she had gained entrance to, her blank expression gave nothing away.

The gentle blowing wind caressed her face and caused a few strands of hair to dance against her back as she stepped forward onto the campus.

Her new black shoes, courtesy of the school, tapped noisily against the cobblestone pathway as she approached the school building where her classroom was located. Having already taken the school tour and equipped with a strong memory, she could easily navigate herself throughout the vast campus.

Haruhi tugged on one of the white cuffs of her yellow dress, another item that had been provided to her by the school. The school had issued her a pair of shoes, two uniforms, and all of the books for the courses she would be taking. She had been placed into Class A, despite her lack of pedigree, because she was considered a privileged student.

It was an unsurprising discovery to realize that she was one of the only students on campus. Each morning, the girl ensured that she had enough time to arrive at school, even if complications sought fit to arise. She wouldn't let something like an alarm clock failing to wake her up or missing the train hinder her from maintaining top scores in her classes and a perfect attendance.

The screeching tires, signaling the arrival of another student, caused her to toss a glance over her shoulder. A black limousine was parked directly in front of the school and Haruhi couldn't help but slide the cuff on her left wrist up to stare at the watch that had been concealed by the fabric.

'7:39,' Haruhi read. Classes started at 8:15 A.M.

She let the cuff drape across the cheap watch once more before turning back to the black limousine where a figure was emerging.

'Should I schedule an appointment for a new contact prescription?' Haruhi wondered to herself as she stared at the black clad figure in the distance. She couldn't make out if the person was a man or a woman by the scraggy mop of dark hair and – wait – was that a _cloak_?

Shaking her head to herself, Haruhi continued towards the main building and mentally promised herself that she would maintain an open mind. If the students at Ouran were anything like the one she had just seen, she would need to keep an open mind to deal with the eccentric figures she was sure to encounter.

She entered into the foyer and brought a hand up to cover her eyes. The lights were a bit too bright and the room seemed to glow a rosy pink. It looked more like a fancy tea parlor than a school building.

"Excuse me," came a gruff mumble from behind her and she quickly moved to the side, turning around to apologize to the person for blocking the way. She hadn't even noticed that there was anyone walking so close behind her.

"Sorry," Haruhi replied with an apologetic smile.

The speaker, a boy with red hair and fearsome eyes, merely blinked at her.

Haruhi turned to walk away, but was stopped as the boy called out to her.

"Yes?" Haruhi turned around to face him once more.

The boy's cheeks were a bit darker than normal as he muttered, "What's your name?"

"Fujioka, Haruhi," she introduced herself.

"I'm Kasanoda, Ritsu," he said, extending his free hand to her while bringing the one holding his schoolbag up to brush against the back of his neck.

Haruhi shook his hand, letting her smile widen. He somewhat reminded her of Arai, one of her friends from middle school.

Ritsu felt his cheeks darken.

"It's nice to meet you, Kasanoda-kun," Haruhi said. The two of them returned their hands to their sides after the introductions were complete.

Although socializing wasn't her number one priority in life, she wasn't going to turn the boy away.

"What year are you in?" Haruhi inquired.

"Year one," Ritsu replied, "Class D."

Haruhi looked thoughtful for a moment before stating, "I'm in Class A. The rooms are near one another, so let's walk together."

Ritsu nodded dumbly before trailing after the girl that was already walking away.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Did you go here during middle school and elementary?" Ritsu asked as they stood in front of her classroom. He figured that since she was in Class A, she was probably one of those "stuck up rich kids." However, he had been taken aback by the way she smiled at him during their first meeting. Most people ran away in shock or fear while everyone else was paralyzed by his intense appearance.

After all, he was the heir to the most powerful yakuza group in Tokyo. He had been brought up to fight and intimidate others. His father's training had been successful. Everyone that the young redhead encountered was usually scared away. That wasn't the life Ritsu wanted. He wanted to be accepted, not feared.

"No," Haruhi said, interrupting his thoughts, "I went to public school and transferred here on a scholarship."

Ritsu looked surprised at that.

"Why did you want to come here?" he asked.

"I made a promise to someone," Haruhi replied, her features softening in the process. Ritsu couldn't help but think she looked pretty like that.

He blushed at the thought.

"I promised her I'd become a lawyer," she continued, "Attending this school will give me access to a better education and more opportunities in the future."

"Who'd you promise?"

"My mother," she replied, staring at him with an indescribable gaze.

Ritsu, considerate enough to understand the seriousness in her voice, didn't question further. Nobody talked in that tone or used that expression unless the person they were referring to was deceased or no longer around.

"My old man's making me go here," Ritsu added in, hoping to prevent an uncomfortable silence from forming between the two of them.

"Why?" his companion asked.

"Said I needed to learn who I'd be dealing with in the future," Ritsu said with a grin.

"What do you mean?" Haruhi inquired, looking a bit confused at his statement.

The redhead could only assume the brunette had no idea who his family was. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know either. However, he figured if she wouldn't accept him, then screw her.

However, he couldn't stop that little voice in his head from telling him the complete opposite.

"I'm heir to the Kasanoda family," Ritsu said before quickly adding, "the yakuza group."

"I see," Haruhi said, not showing any signs of surprise or fear.

"You're really okay with that?" Ritsu asked, surprised by her easy acceptance of the bit of information he had provided her with.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh..." Ritsu trailed off trying to think of a reason that wouldn't offend her, "no reason."

Haruhi shrugged it off and looked down the hall where a group of boys were noisily talking amongst themselves and several other students were beginning to appear.

"Class is going to start soon," Ritsu stated.

Haruhi glanced down at her wrist, tugging the cuff back to reveal her watch. He was right. There was just over ten minutes left until classes began.

"I'll see you later, then," Haruhi said with a kind smile.

Deciding not to ruin his so far successful first impression on the girl he had just become acquainted with, Ritsu only nodded his head in agreement with a slight blush staining his cheeks. After all, she had said _later_.

With a broad grin and his back turned to the female who was already disappearing into her classroom, Ritsu figured the school year wouldn't be as bad as he first thought it would be.

* * *

I've boarded the 'Female Fujioka' bandwagon. Seeing as this story is unbeta'd (by choice), feel free to point out my mistakes (if it bugs you that much). 


	2. Chapter 2

Haruhi Fujioka was a smart and observant girl. However, despite the fact she was an extremely intelligent and independent individual, she was painfully oblivious to things that concerned her and things that others would claim to be 'abnormal.' However, Haruhi Fujioka liked to keep an open mind and it took _a lot _to make her think something was wrong about a situation. After all, she had grown up taking care of an okama father and had met several eccentric characters because of that.

So when the bell rang and the teacher entered the room, it didn't faze the already-prepared-to-take-notes girl that the only two seats left unoccupied were the ones located on either side of her.

She wasn't bothered by the shy whispers and murmurs of her fellow classmates concerning the 'cute new girl' that had attended neither the middle school branch nor elementary branch of Ouran.

Nor was she concerned by the scraps of paper with love confessions scrawled across them that narrowly missed her being. At least eight had been tossed in her direction. One had even landed on the top of the desk on her right.

What finally did manage to capture her attention was the audible sound of the door being slammed open and the two identical figures that entered into the classroom.

Gasps and squeals sounded from around the room as the girls of class 1-A delighted in the fact that they were in a class with two of the members of the already well-known Host Club.

Haruhi, on the other hand, merely observed the two handsome looking men for a moment before returning her attention to the board where the teacher had already started writing up the notes for the day's lesson.

"Oh, Kaoru," she heard a voice sigh from her right side.

"It seems we have been separated from one another!" a second voice, although identical, cried from her left.

"At least I can still gaze at you from afar," the right said in a lower tone, "even though I shall long for you to be by my side once more."

"Hikaru!" the voice on her left, Kaoru, lightly scolded, "you know we should keep _that_ between us!"

"Moe, moe!" the girls chanted in obvious delight as they watched the scene unfold.

The guys, on the other hand, looked a bit disturbed by the spectacle that the two brothers were creating.

Haruhi, who had perfected the ability to block out everything 'unimportant' from her mind, continued to jot down notes into the plain looking blue notebook which she had purchased the week before while shopping for school supplies.

"Will you go out with me?" she briefly heard the voice on her right, Hikaru, say, "signed Jun. The guy three seats behind you and one row to the left with the spiky black hair and bleached tips."

The class, Haruhi and the teacher (who was, at that point, questioning his life's choices and wondering why he had ever wanted to be a teacher) not included, burst into laughter as one guy shouted angrily from the back of the room, "That wasn't for you!"

"Oh? That's good," the voice on her left, Kaoru, said, "I'd hate to have to compete for my brother's affections."

"So who's it for?" Hikaru asked as he whirled around to face the other speaker.

"The new girl next to you!" the voice said.

Haruhi finally let her gaze slide to the boy on her right as a piece of crumpled paper was deposited onto her desk.

She looked down at the open note and realized it was the one she had heard the boy read aloud moments earlier.

"So are you going to go out with him?" she heard Hikaru ask in a mischievous tone.

Haruhi didn't know if this was one of the many differences between her old school and this extravagant new one, but she was pretty sure she had to attend class lest her scholarship be a waste.

"We're in class right now, why would I go out?" Haruhi inquired before returning to her notes.

The class was silent for a whole minute before Hikaru and Kaoru burst out into uncontrollable laughter, hitting their hands against the top of their desks and wiping tears away from their eyes.

"Oh, she's hilarious," Hikaru said.

"Definitely," the younger twin agreed with a wide grin.

.x.o.x.o.x.

By the time lunch rolled around, Haruhi had been pelted by at least twelve more love declarations. She was encountered by three guys asking her to be their girlfriend to which she only replied with a pretty smile, saying she thought they would make "good _friends_."

And although her rejections possessed no ill will, she was declared "comic relief" by the two brothers.

"Fujioka-san!" Haruhi heard a familiar voice call her name.

Looking up, she spotted the intimidating looking redhead who was waving at her from the doorway. The rest of her classmates had filed out of the room in favor of heading to the cafeteria to buy lunch.

"How was your class, Kasanoda-kun?" Haruhi inquired with a bright smile as she greeted the boy. He walked into the room and claimed the abandoned seat to her right, dropping his case onto the top of the desk.

Ritsu shrugged. Like he had thought, most of the other kids had been afraid of his presence. The only ones that hadn't were the other sons and daughters of different yakuza groups, but even they hadn't bothered to befriend him.

"It was boring," he admitted as he watched her take out a plain-looking bento from her schoolbag.

"Did you bring food with you?" Haruhi inquired, having noticed that her companion had yet to take out his lunch if he had brought one to begin with.

"Er," Ritsu rubbed the back of his neck. He didn't really want to go to the cafeteria, especially since she wasn't planning on going either, "I forgot."

Haruhi's eyes widened a bit at that, and she quickly pushed her lunch box towards him.

"Here, we'll share," she said, smiling.

"Err... th-thanks," Ritsu managed to say. He attempted to hide the blush staining his cheeks by looking into the container. Everything was neatly arranged in a simple manner. No cute animal shapes or pink chopsticks or Hello Kitty patterns.

Haruhi pulled out her notebook and started on her homework, occasionally reaching into the box to grab something to eat.

Ritsu leaned back in his chair, enjoying the silence as he ate the rice ball he had picked from the bento. He couldn't help but think that Haruhi's cooking was better than anything the cafeteria might have served.

"What are you working on?" Ritsu asked a few minutes later as he held the half eaten rice ball in his hand. He was truly savoring each bite, whether it be to avoid taking too much of his companion's lunch or because it was so wonderful to be eating a cute girl's cooking - he couldn't decide.

"Mathematics," Haruhi replied, not looking up from her paper. She was almost halfway done. The homework her teacher had assigned consisted of very simple and easy to understand material.

"I suck at that subject," the redhead admitted. Actually, he was a rather poor student in general, but math was perhaps his worse.

Haruhi met his eyes with a smile, "I can try to help you with your homework whenever you need it."

Ritsu blushed and looked at the tabletop, finding the wood to be extremely interesting as he mumbled, "I'll keep that in mind."

Realizing that Haruhi had turned back to her homework, Ritsu finished off the rest of his rice ball.

A few minutes of silence had passed between the two. Ritsu ate another rice ball, thanking the girl once again for sharing her food and complimenting her on how good it tasted.

"It's just a rice ball," she replied in an amused tone before turning to a blank page in her notebook to begin on another assignment.

"But it was really good," Ritsu insisted.

"Oh man," someone interrupted from the doorway, "I guess she's not single anymore."

The redhead let his gaze slide over to where there were two boys standing. As soon as they saw he was staring at them, they quickly turned and headed in the opposite direction with nervous expressions plastered across their faces.

'What did they mean by that?' Ritsu mused to himself.

Looking at his brunette companion who was still writing in her notebook, it took a few seconds to finally register in his mind what their conversation had been about.

"MAH?!"

Haruhi's attention snapped to her redheaded friend and she looked at him with an odd expression. The boy was holding his face in his hands and had a gloomy exterior. His cheeks, or at least whatever was visible of them, were flushed as well.

"Are you feeling well, Kasanoda-kun?" Haruhi asked.

Ritsu nodded slowly, but didn't look at her.

"Oh," she said, returning to her homework, "alright."

.x.o.x.o.x.

Ritsu took his leave from her side a few minutes before classes started up once more, thanking her for sharing her meal and telling her he'd see her later.

Seven minutes before classes resumed, the two twins reentered the room and claimed the two empty seats next to the studious girl once more.

"Where were you for lunch?" Hikaru asked from her left, "We wanted to place bets on how many guys would get rejected by you by the time lunch ended."

She wondered why they had bothered to switch seats, but didn't bother asking. Instead, she inquired, "What do you mean by 'rejected'?"

Hikaru was holding back his laughter as he waved her question away. He insisted on knowing where she had been for the lunch period.

"Here," she stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. She was reviewing the assignment she had just completed, checking for mistakes.

"Didn't want to eat?" Kaoru asked from her right. He was propped up on his elbow, angling his head to stare at her with his warm-colored eyes.

"I ate," she said, scratching out an error with her pen.

"But you didn't go to the cafeteria," Hikaru said.

"I had a bento."

There was a pause, and Haruhi could only assume the two brothers were sharing a glance above her head as they took in the knowledge of her "commoner methods."

"Isn't that the homework assignment we were given just before lunch?" Kaoru asked as he leaned forward to peek at the paper in front of her.

"Yes," Haruhi said, rewriting a word that appeared illegible.

"And you're already done?!" the twins chimed simultaneously.

"Almost," Haruhi stated, scanning the final lines on the page.

"Kaoru," Kaoru said, "do you think she's really human?"

"I don't know, Hikaru," Hikaru replied.

Haruhi thought the two of them were odd and even went so far as to tell them so.

"What do you mean?"

"You're Hikaru," she said to her left before turning to her right and saying, "and you're Kaoru. Why are you calling each other the wrong name?"

The twins looked a bit shocked at her statement before their expressions melted into an amused one.

Kaoru was the first to speak up, asking, "What makes you think you're right? Why do you think I'm Kaoru?"

"Even if you're identical, you're different," she said in a bored tone as she placed the piece of paper that held her assignment into the notebook and flipped to the section she used for notes.

Haruhi wanted to add on, "Besides, the two of you have been very distracting throughout the whole time we've been in class. Of course I can identify which one of you is which." However, she held her tongue and instead chose to scribble the date onto the corner of the paper.

"You probably got lucky," she heard Hikaru mutter under his breath.

She shrugged his statement off. The wide-eyed girl didn't really see why it was such a big deal.

More students had arrived by that time, but the teacher had yet to enter. There was still some time remaining before class started up once more and a group of the Host Club's loyal fans decided it was the perfect opportunity to greet the "little devils."

"Hikaru! Kaoru!" one girl squealed loudly, causing Haruhi's attention to drift towards the group huddled around either twin's desk.

"Is the Host Club open today?" another girl asked.

'Host Club?' Haruhi thought to herself before returning back to her notebook. She had flipped open to the previous page and was reviewing the notes she had taken earlier.

"Yes!" the twins chimed simultaneously.

"Will we see you there?" Hikaru asked.

"Or must I keep Kaoru company?" Kaoru questioned with a sly grin, once again taking up the role as his brother.

The girls swooned.

"We'll come and keep Kaoru and you company!" the girls promised before drifting off to claim their seats once more.

"See," Haruhi, who had turned back to her notes, was interrupted by Kaoru whispering in her ear, "they couldn't tell who was who."

"So how could you?" Hikaru asked.

Haruhi didn't reply because the teacher had walked into the room, bidding the class "hello" before launching into another lecture. Thankfully, the twins chose to be quiet. However, they couldn't get the girl in between them off their minds long enough in order to actually concentrate.

Instead, it was Hikaru's unanswered question that lingered in their minds.

'_So how could you?'_

* * *

Thanks to everyone for reading and reviewing! I hadn't realized that Kasanoda was such a popular guy. 


	3. Chapter 3

"Make sure to finish reading the first chapter. We will be having a reading quiz next time. Class is dismissed," the teacher hurriedly said before shooting out of the classroom with his briefcase in hand.

He needed to escape from the campus before the after school activities commenced. He knew that he should have been more hesitant about applying for the job. Any school with a Safari Club that actually had an on-ground safari could not have been the safest choice for a man in his late thirties.

As soon as the teacher had made his mad dash out of the classroom, the students began to pack up their supplies and head out.

Haruhi, who had just finished packing her bag, was about to leave the classroom when she was stopped by Hikaru and Kaoru.

"Where are you going?" Hikaru inquired.

"Home," Haruhi replied, curious as to why he was asking. She had been contemplating the idea of stopping by the market to pick up some fish for the next day's lunch, but had eventually decided that she would just use the leftover meat from that night's dinner. Besides, she still had to complete the assigned reading, cook dinner, and do some laundry when she got home.

"You haven't planned on joining a club?" Kaoru asked with a raised brow.

"Or perhaps going to see a particular one?" Hikaru added as if hinting at something else.

Having not caught the hinting tone in Hikaru's question, Haruhi replied that no, she was not in a club, and no, she hadn't planned on visiting one either.

Emitting an exasperated sigh, Hikaru questioned, "Haven't you ever heard of the Host Club?"

Haruhi looked thoughtful for a moment before replying, "I heard a girl mention it earlier."

"Aren't you curious to go see what it is?" Kaoru inquired while leaning in closer to her face as if he were studying her.

"No," she stated, not bothered by the nearing proximity of the younger twin's face.

"Not even a bit?" Hikaru asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"Not particularly," Haruhi stated.

"Why don't you come for a minute? If you don't like it, you can leave," Kaoru offered.

Haruhi didn't see any reason as to why she should go check out a club she held zero interest for. Even though she had no other pressing matters to attend to, it would just be a waste of her time to follow the twin brothers around the school in order to see what the "Host Club" was about. However, the scholarship student was saved from answering his question by a familiar redhead trying to capture her attention just outside the doorway.

"Fujioka-san!" Ritsu called in greeting as he stepped into the classroom. The other students had already left, leaving the twins and Haruhi by themselves.

"Hello, Kasanoda-kun," Haruhi greeted the gruff-looking boy.

"Can I walk you home?" the redhead asked with a slight blush staining his cheeks. He had been practicing that line in his head, over and over, ever since lunch ended.

"I take the train," Haruhi replied, missing the fact that both Hikaru and Kaoru were staring at the 'intruder' with identically narrowed eyes and annoyed expressions.

"Oh," Ritsu said, blinking, "how about I walk you to the train station, then?"

"Wouldn't that be out of your way, Kasanoda-kun?" Haruhi inquired.

"That doesn't matter to me," Ritsu replied, starting to nervously rub the back of his neck.

"She can't today," Hikaru interrupted, "Haruhi is coming to the Host Club first."

"Huh?" Haruhi inquired, "I never agreed to-"

She was cut off by Kaoru clamping a hand across her mouth, preventing her from speaking. He rested his chin on her shoulder and grinned lazily at Ritsu who was looking at the three of them with a confused expression.

"Maybe next time?" Hikaru questioned with mock-sympathy as he and his brother quickly carted the girl away, leaving Ritsu Kasanoda to stare at the empty spot where they once stood.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"That wasn't nice," Haruhi said as the twins continued to drag her down the Performing Arts wing. They had already passed by the ballroom, four theaters, two music rooms, and at least eight private practice rooms before Kaoru finally let the hand he had on her mouth fall back to his side.

"How else were we going to get you to come to the Host Club with us?" Hikaru asked with a wry grin.

"Especially since that scary redhead was trying to take you away," Kaoru added in with a bit of a shiver. That guy could have frozen a person with his terrifying features.

"Kasanoda-kun isn't scary," Haruhi said in a rather blunt tone.

The twins shared a glance and then shrugged.

"Besides," Haruhi continued, "I have things to do at home."

"Like?" the twins questioned simultaneously.

"I need to do the laundry, make dinner, wash the dishes, read the assigned chapters, and finish up the rest of my homework," Haruhi listed off each task from her mental to-do list.

Kaoru looked curious, "You actually do all of that?"

"Yes," Haruhi said, "and that's why I wanted to get home sooner rather than later."

Hikaru shrugged, "You only have to stay for a minute."

"Yeah," Kaoru said, agreeing with his brother, "we just want to introduce you to our club members."

"My lord will _love_ you," Hikaru said with a snicker, imagining how the idiotic blonde would try to shamelessly flirt with the clueless brunette and be turned down each and every time.

"'My lord'?" Haruhi repeated, "Your club leader actually makes you call him that?"

"Yeah," the twins said.

Haruhi paused for a moment, "He sounds like a narcissist."

Hikaru and Kaoru grinned in both amusement and agreement.

They finally stopped in front of a pair of doors. The sign overhead labeled the room as the 'Third Music Room', and Haruhi wondered what type of club this was to be hosted in such a place.

Each twin pushed one door open, prepared to reveal the splendor and beauty of its contents.

"WHY ARE YOU TWO ALWAYS SO LATE?!"

Haruhi immediately reacted by jumping backwards as a flash of blonde appeared before the three of them.

She took in a set of gorgeous violet eyes and an angelic face. Well, it would have been angelic had it not been distorted into an angry expression. It appeared as though the owner of such a beautiful exterior was foaming at the mouth in rage.

"Hey, my lord," the twins chimed together as if they weren't fazed by what had just occurred, "we were a bit held up in the classroom."

"Huh?" the blonde inquired. The confusion was evident in his eyes as he looked at the two brothers with a curious expression.

The twins stepped apart so that the violet-eyed man could get a better view of the female who had been previously hidden from his gaze by their towering figures.

"Ooh!" Tamaki said, his eyes immediately going misty as he stepped forward to claim the girl's hands in his own, "Princess! Forgive me for my previous behavior, but your beauty was hidden from my view by these two disdainful brothers."

"It's fine," Haruhi reassured the blonde as she tried to tug her hands free from his grasp. She heard the twins attempt to stifle their giggles.

"Your beauty surpasses even the stars! No! The sun!"

"The sun is a star," Haruhi corrected him.

The twins held each other as their bodies shook with mirth.

"Fair princess, perhaps I might better entertain you inside?"

"No," Haruhi stated, "thank you."

"Come!" Tamaki said, ignoring the first part of her statement as he began to drag the girl into the room.

The Third Music Room, Haruhi noticed, was just as extravagant as the rest of the school. It possessed a rosy glow, bright lighting, and expensive furniture. What immediately caught her gaze was the expensive-looking vase on display nearby.

There were several tables spread out around the room. Many of them had multiple chairs surrounding them, but there was one – off in a corner – with only one chair. That one, however, was already occupied by a raven-haired boy wearing a pair of glasses. He was typing away on the laptop in front of him, completely ignoring the commotion occurring across the room.

There was another occupied table in the room where a child-like blonde boy with honey eyes sat eating cake next to what looked like his polar opposite. Those two were busily watching as the twins – still laughing – trailed behind the enthusiastic blonde who was dragging a rather resistant-looking brunette towards one of the couches.

"Would you be so kind as to tell me your name, beautiful princess?" the violet-eyed boy inquired as he deposited her on the couch and took the seat next to her. He gazed into her eyes as though she were the only woman in the world.

"Fujioka," Haruhi said, still trying to tug her hands free, "Haruhi."

"What a beautiful and befitting name, Haruhi-hime. I am Suoh, Tamaki, of class 2-A."

"Will you please release my hands, Tamaki-senpai?" Haruhi inquired.

Tamaki's eyes widened and he immediately released her hands.

Finally free, Haruhi stood up and quickly stepped away from the blonde.

"What is wrong, fair princess?" Tamaki inquired, also standing up.

Haruhi took a few more steps back for safety measures.

"The twins asked me to accompany them here," Haruhi said, "and now I'm going home."

The twins were laughing hysterically at that point. The dejected look on the club president's face was just too much.

"Don't you wish to stay in my company?" the blonde asked.

"No," Haruhi said, making her way towards the exit.

"But..." Tamaki desperately said, trailing off as the girl stepped through the doorway and disappeared from his sight.

"Wow, my lord," Hikaru said as he propped an elbow on his twin's shoulder, "time off from club duties has sure made you rusty."

Tamaki frowned and stood there for a minute, thinking to himself about what he had done wrong.

"You two must have paid her to act in such a way!" Tamaki announced.

"Nope," the twins retorted, "your charms just don't work."

"That's not possible! I know every method on how to woo a woman," Tamaki defended, before something dawned on him.

"Was that even a girl!?"

The twins didn't know whether to hit him upside the head or laugh at how much of an idiot he truly was.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"How was school, Haruhi?" her father, dressed in his work clothes, asked. He was smiling at her from across the table with red-painted lips. They were having an early dinner so that her father could eat before he had to go to his job at the bar.

Haruhi blinked at him from over her rice bowl and tried to think of the appropriate word that would sum up her first day of high school.

Between students wearing black capes, a set of twins with identity-crisis, her newly acquired redheaded friend, scraps of paper asking her to leave class with different boys being thrown at her, and the Host Club with its very eccentric president...

"It was interesting."

* * *

Thank you, again, to everyone who's been reading my story. And a special thank you to all of my reviewers! 


	4. Chapter 4

"Haruhi!" the twins chorused from behind her.

Tugging back the left cuff of her uniform, Haruhi glanced at the cheap watch secured tightly around her wrist.

"You two are early today," the scholarship student commented. After all, school didn't start for another twelve minutes.

"That's not a very nice way to say hello," both twins chimed simultaneously.

The girl, not in the least bit bothered by their statement, shrugged her shoulders and continued to scan through the notes she had taken the night before.

She heard one of the twins release an agitated sigh from behind her as she flipped to the next page in the notebook. The next thing she knew, her notebook had been swiped away by one of the twins.

"May I have my notebook back?" she asked, turning around to face the culprits.

"If you can win our game," the twins chorused, grins widening.

Although she did not particularly wish to be involved in their antics so early in the day, Haruhi nevertheless complied and asked, "What game?"

"All you have to do," one twin said.

The other twin continued, "is guess..."

"...which one is Hikaru?!"

"Hikaru," Haruhi said, pointing to the one on her right.

"Wrong!" the twins chorused.

"No, I'm not," Haruhi deadpanned.

"You're wrong," they repeated.

"It's far too early for this," Haruhi said, more to herself than anyone else, "will you please return my notebook, Kaoru?"

Kaoru sighed dejectedly and complied, returning the notebook to its rightful owner.

"See, Hikaru," Kaoru said, turning to his brother, "it's not just dumb luck. She knows which one of us is which."

Hikaru peered at the girl with narrowed eyes, as if trying to decipher some complex puzzle. After a few seconds of silence had passed, he concluded, "I'm still not convinced."

Haruhi gave the older twin a pointed look, "I don't care whether you're convinced or not, but it's very troublesome to have both you and your brother interrupting my studies with your childish games."

The twin's faces dropped at her comment and they jutted out their lower lips in pitiful pouts. It was like she had just kicked their favorite puppy into a busy intersection.

Feeling momentarily ashamed, even though Haruhi knew she was right, she reluctantly consoled them, "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for. Even if you're both rude, disruptive, and disrespectful of others, I don't think the two of you are too awful."

Although she had meant for her apology to hold no malice, one really had to wonder...

Hikaru and Kaoru, having ignored the last part of her apology, wrapped their long arms around her in a tight embrace, wailing, "Haruhi! Do you really mean that?!"

Awkwardly patting their backs in a befuddled manner, Haruhi nodded her head.

The twins, with sly grins plastered across their faces, sobbed, "We'll be the best of friends forever!"

The girl stopped patting their backs and blinked, "Huh?"

She tried to step back from their embrace, but they clung to her, pressing their faces into her neck.

"Wait," Haruhi said, squirming a bit as she attempted to wriggle her way out, "I didn't agree to being best friends with the two of you."

The twins stepped away, but continued to hold her in their embrace. They stared at her with teary eyes that were threatening to burst.

"Haru-" hiccuped Kaoru, "-hi."

"Doesn't want to be our best friend!" finished Hikaru in a wail.

"Would you two please stop overreacting?" Haruhi asked as she tried to calm them down. However, her question only brought along more of the twin's complaints.

"Haruhi's so mean!" the Kaoru cried.

"She hates us!"

"All we wanted was another friend!"

"We're so lonely!"

"At least I still have you, Hikaru."

"Kaoru," Hikaru whispered with watery eyes.

A series of thumps could be heard from the classroom's entrance. A group of the twin's fan girls had just entered the room, but ended up fainting in the doorway from the sudden overdose of brotherly love.

"You two," Haruhi muttered under her breath, shaking her head.

"Well," Hikaru said, resting his hand on his hip and leaning a bit to the side.

"I guess that means," Kaoru continued, mimicking his brother's pose.

"Haruhi's going to be our new toy!" the twins exclaimed excitedly.

"What?" Haruhi said, clueless as to what the twins had just meant by 'toy.'

"Toy," the twins repeated, as if she hadn't heard them the first time.

"I didn't agree to be your plaything either," Haruhi pointed out.

"Ooh," Kaoru said.

"Plaything," Hikaru repeated.

"We like that title _so_ much more."

Before Haruhi could retaliate with her own response, the teacher entered the room (stepping over the unconscious girls still passed out in the doorway) and told the class to settle down.

Haruhi mentally sighed and flipped to a blank page in the notebook in front of her. She'd deal with the twins later.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"C'mon, Haruhi," the twins said.

Haruhi gazed at the two boys in front of her with her large, chocolate-colored eyes.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Lunch period had just started and the starving teenagers of class 1-A had hurriedly rushed from the room in hopes of being the first in line for food at the cafeteria. Well, that is, except for the Hitachiin brothers and the scholarship student.

"We're hungry," the twins whined.

"Then go get food," Haruhi suggested.

The brothers sighed in exasperation, "We're waiting for you."

"I already have my lunch," Haruhi said, taking out the bento from her schoolbag and placing it on the desk in front of her.

"It's so small," the twins observed, leaning in closer to peer at the container.

Haruhi stared at them both with a dull look, "Shouldn't you two be leaving for the cafeteria now?"

"We can't leave our _plaything_ to sit in the classroom all by herself!" Kaoru proudly proclaimed.

"I'm not your plaything," Haruhi said, removing the top of the container which held her food.

"Yes, you are," the twins corrected her.

"No, I'm not – wait, Hikaru, what are you doing?" Haruhi asked as the older twin stuck his hand into the container and withdrew a piece of beef that she had saved from the previous night's dinner.

He held it in front of his face for a moment, inspecting the piece of meat before slowly placing it inside his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds before his face lightened up in surprise.

"Wow, Haruhi!" Hikaru exclaimed between bites, "this is really good."

"I want to try some!" Kaoru said, not waiting for the girl's approval as he grabbed a rice ball.

Haruhi watched, stunned, as the twins quickly devoured her lunch and then placed the empty box back onto the desk top.

"I'm glad the two of you like my cooking so much," Haruhi said, a look of irritation crossing her features as she watched the twins pat their stomachs in contentment, "but what am I supposed to eat?"

"Well..." Hikaru began.

Kaoru grinned, saying, "I guess you have no choice but to come to the cafeteria with us."

Having previously viewed the cafeteria's lunch menu in the school's brochure, Haruhi already knew that the cost of any of the meals served there were well over two weeks of her allowance. No matter how tasty it looked, she had no desire to waste her money on it. Haruhi shook her head and decided that she would just start on the homework that had been assigned

"We'll treat," the twins added quickly as they saw her hand creep towards her notebook.

Haruhi stood, grabbing her schoolbag in one hand and notebook in the other, "Alright."

.x.o.x.o.x.

The cafeteria was packed when the three students of class 1-A arrived. Haruhi glanced at the tables; many of them were already occupied. She then directed her attention to the dwindling line of students that were placing their lunch orders in front of the cashier.

Kaoru and Hikaru carted her over to the lunch line and they claimed their spots behind a group of what appeared to be well-built athletes.

"What do you want?" Hikaru asked.

"Huh?" Haruhi looked up at him with a curious glance. There was so much food to choose from and he wanted her to pick so soon?

"To eat," Hikaru explained with a grin.

"I don't know," Haruhi admitted before mentally pondering over the choices available to her.

She could order the least expensive meal, the garden salad, because she disliked having to rely on others. But she could always choose one of the rich delicacies she could only dream of trying because, after all, the twins were the ones handling the bill.

"The garden salad," Haruhi finally said when they became second-in-line.

"Didn't take you as the type of girl who obsessed about watching her weight," Kaoru teased.

"I'm not," Haruhi dully replied, "I just don't think my bento was worth much more than the salad."

Hikaru waved his hand as if dismissing her comment, "It doesn't matter to us. You can order whatever you want."

"I'm fine with the salad," she replied, having already made her decision.

"Whatever," Hikaru said, stepping towards the cashier.

"I'd like three Selection D's."

Haruhi's eyes widened and she glanced up at the boy at her side.

Kaoru chuckled at her expression, saying, "You'll like it way more than the salad."

"But I didn't ask for that," Haruhi retorted.

"You're our toy," Hikaru said, stuffing the change into his wallet, "and we can do whatever we want with you."

"I'm not your toy," Haruhi replied.

"You are," the twins chimed.

Sighing in exasperation, Haruhi moved forward to pick up one of the three identical treys that had been set before both her and the twins.

"Thank you," she said.

Hikaru smirked and Kaoru smiled, but they had already turned away from her and were heading into the sea of tables.

Haruhi trailed behind with a thoughtful expression on her face.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Fair princess!"

Haruhi whipped around, almost dropping her food in surprise as the exuberant and eccentric Host Club president attempted to pounce on her.

The twins, however, moved in front of her and immediately blocked her from the violet-eyed boy's sight.

"Hey, my lord," the twins said with devilish grins, "hands off our toy."

"You demons!" the blonde replied with a shocked expression, "Why must you go and corrupt the innocence of this beautiful, young maiden?"

"Because," Hikaru said in a bored expression, "we're saving her from people like _you_."

"Yeah," Kaoru added, "you should have seen how many guys were professing their love the other day."

Haruhi glanced at the dark-haired boy sitting next to the empty seat that Tamaki had just abandoned. Although he appeared to be eating his extravagantly-prepared meal, she could sense that he was paying more attention to the situation at hand than his outward-appearance revealed.

"My lord, we're keeping her away from you for her own safety," the older twin stated before nudging Haruhi towards the unoccupied table on their right side; the one positioned directly next to the Host Club's unofficial table.

"Is this really far enough?" Kaoru questioned aloud.

"I don't know," Hikaru said while plopping down into his seat and placing his trey on the table. His brother followed suit, taking the chair next to him. Haruhi chose the seat across from the two, hoping that they wouldn't try to drape themselves around her or cause another scene. It would only serve as a distraction from her meal.

Haruhi glanced at the defeated-looking blonde who had returned to his seat before letting her attention focus solely to the food in front of her. Everything looked so good!

"So... you can make us lunch tomorrow," Hikaru said, interrupting her mental praise.

"Why?" Haruhi inquired, picking up her chopsticks.

"I want Haruhi's cooking too!" the Host Club King wailed from his seat as he eavesdropped on their conversation.

Haruhi felt her face distort into an expression of disbelief. Stupid, rich bastards...

"Because we treated you to lunch today," Kaoru stated, taking a bite of his meal.

Haruhi thought to herself for a moment before saying, "You two already ate my lunch earlier."

"You devils were able to try Haruhi-hime's cooking already?!"

The twins turned to face the distraught Host Club president with dull glances, "Stay out of this, my lord. This is a _friend's-only _section."

"But, but..."

The brothers turned their attention back to Haruhi and chorused, "That only counted as half-a-meal. We were still hungry after eating it."

"That's because it was meant for only one person," Haruhi irritably replied. With all of their questions, she really wasn't being allowed to savor the delicious meal.

Hikaru smirked at her and draped an arm over his twin's shoulder.

"You see," Hikaru said with a mischievous grin, "treating friends to food is what friendship is all about."

"I thought I was your toy?" Haruhi replied blandly.

_Oh_, she had fallen right into their trap!

"My lord!" Kaoru called over to the other table, although they all knew Tamaki could hear them fine, "she admits it."

A wave of murmurs started to arise from around the cafeteria, especially from the twin's fans located at the table to the left of the Host Club's.

Tamaki looked at her with a gaping-mouth and large, violet eyes. The bespectacled, raven-haired boy next to him stared at her with a blank expression. The child-like boy that she recalled from the previous day's visit to the Host Club was watching her with a curious gaze while his companion, a dark-haired and tall boy only stared at her with a stoic, unchanging face.

The twins, however, had (somehow) positioned themselves at her sides and were embracing her like she was their personal teddy-bear.

"I'm still not making you lunch," Haruhi stated, but the twins were too busy nuzzling her face to care.

.x.o.x.o.x.

At the table to the left of the Host Club, amongst murmurs and whispers_ ("why did the twins pick her?!"), ("what about their brotherly love for one another?!") _one girl sat with an unamused expression gracing her sharp features.

"Ayanokoji-chan, can you believe the nerve of that girl?" one of Hikaru Hitachiin's most avid admirers said, "she's taking Hikaru-sama all for herself!"

"I don't care about that," Ayanokoji sniffed indifferently with a toss of her glossy, brunette hair, "but she _will_ pay for attracting Tamaki-sama's attention."

* * *

Sorry to all you Kyoya fans, but the Shadow King has yet to make his grand appearence. He'll probably be doing so in chapter five. I suppose a lot of you are curious about the couples, but I'll just tell you now that it's going to be a funky love-shaped thing with Haruhi, the twins, Kasanoda, and maybe some unrequited Tamaki-love. Thanks to everyone for reviewing last chapter; your comments really made my day! 


	5. Chapter 5

Packing up her books and other supplies at the end of the school day, Haruhi realized she was, once again, one of the last people to actually exit the classroom.

"You're so slow," Hikaru pointed out as he leaned casually against his desk on her right side with his schoolbag already packed. Unlike the previous day, the twins hadn't bothered to switch seats after lunch.

"What are you two still doing here?" Haruhi inquired, wondering if Ritsu was going to show up; she hadn't seen him at all that day.

"We're waiting for you," Kaoru said.

"We seem to be making a habit of it; wouldn't you agree, Haruhi?" Hikaru questioned.

"It's not like I'm asking you to," Haruhi muttered under her breath.

The twins, having heard her comment, only smirked in that devilish manner of theirs.

"But Haruhi," Hikaru stated, "you're our toy."

"You belong to us," Kaoru added with a wink.

Knowing her earlier (albeit, unknowing) admittance of said position would only be used against her, Haruhi merely grabbed her bag and made her way out the door.

"Where are you going?" Hikaru called from behind her as she headed towards the 1-D classroom, "the exit's in the opposite direction."

"I'm going to see if Kasanoda-kun is around," Haruhi tossed over her shoulder.

Hikaru and Kaoru stood side-by-side, watching her retreat down the hallway. Her long hair swished against the yellow fabric of her uniform in a rather hypnotic motion, but it wasn't the scholarship student's hair that kept the two in place.

It was panic.

"She was referring to that scary redheaded guy from yesterday, wasn't she?" Hikaru asked in a distraught tone as he recalled the "threatening-figure" from the previous day.

"Isn't Kasanoda the name of that yakuza group?" Kaoru asked, a fearful expression crossing his features.

"Oh no," the twins said in unison.

"I think we need," Hikaru began.

Kaoru continued, "some assistance from ..."

"The Shadow King."

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Kasanoda-kun?" Haruhi called out as she poked her head into the almost-empty room of class 1-D.

"Fujioka-san!" the redhead exclaimed in a surprised tone. He glanced up at the clock located at the front of the classroom and then down at the book situated before him.

"Studying?" Haruhi inquired with a bright smile as she stepped into the classroom.

"I got pretty caught up in the reading," Ritsu replied, "we're learning about the anatomy of animals."

"Ah," Haruhi said, still smiling, "you like animals?"

"Yeah," Ritsu replied, his cheeks flushing in embarrassment at her nearing proximity.

Haruhi stood at his side and glanced over his shoulder in an attempt to look at the textbook he was reading. It was a biology textbook, but it was the less-advanced one. Haruhi had the other, more-advanced version which had been provided by the school as part of her scholarship.

"Do you have any pets?" Haruhi inquired.

"No," Ritsu said before murmuring under his breath something undecipherable. His cheeks had, if possible, become an even darker shade of red.

"What was that?" Haruhi asked, a look of confusion crossing her face.

"I take care of injured animals," Ritsu muttered again, but this time it had been loud enough for her to hear.

"That's nice of you," Haruhi thoughtfully replied, "do you want to become a veterinarian?"

"I wish," Ritsu admitted, "but I gotta inherit my old man's position as the next head of the family."

"Oh," Haruhi said, reflecting on the fact that she was in an entirely different world.

It seemed like everyone in the school already had their future set for them. After high school, they would attend the colleges and universities that their parents would send them to, study the material they were assigned, and then they would inherit the businesses that they had been destined to control since birth. Ritsu Kasanoda was no exception.

"I guess it could be my side-job" Ritsu said with a nervous laugh. He closed the book in front of him and stood up from his seat.

"Yeah," Haruhi said, smiling kindly as she inclined her head to meet his gaze, "I think that's a great idea, Kasanoda-kun. However, I don't think neutering house pets or putting animals to sleep are very appealing tasks."

Ritsu felt his eye twitch in disbelief at how calmly she managed to say the last line.

"I was wondering if you wanted to walk with me," Haruhi said, suddenly changing the topic, "since the twins were rude yesterday, and dragged me away for some pointless reason of theirs."

"I'd like that!" Ritsu exclaimed quickly, lowering his gaze to the floor so he wouldn't have to see the radiant smile that made him feel like such a girl - not at all like the heir to the Kasanoda group.

"Do you mind if I stop by the market?" Haruhi asked, "I need to pick up some ingredients for dinner."

"Sure thing!" Ritsu said, already willing to follow her to the ends of the earth.

...Not that she needed to know that.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"That's her."

"So I just scare her a bit and tell her not to hang around that Suoh guy anymore and you'll go on a date with me?"

Ayanokoji gazed at her companion, a gruff looking teenager from a commoner's school who possessed many undesirable features. Then again, she was comparing him to the fair-faced prince, Tamaki Suoh.

"Yes," Ayanokoji said with a malicious smile, "just make her regret ever setting eyes on Suoh-sama."

"Alright," the boy replied, watching the scholarship student and her redheaded companion with shadowed eyes as they wandered off the school's campus and down the sidewalk.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Fujioka-san!" Ritsu called as he held up a can of tomato sauce in one hand and a container of cheese in the other. He had offered to retrieve said items for Haruhi after being instructed to pick out only the specified brand. She had explained it was the best brand for its price; an observation she had made after countless years of being in charge of grocery shopping and other domestic tasks.

"Thanks, Kasanoda-kun," Haruhi said, plucking a box of noodles from the shelf.

"I haven't had spaghetti in ages," the redhead said, placing both the tomato sauce and the cheese into the basket dangling from her arm, "somehow, I always get stuck eating traditional meals."

"Really?" Haruhi inquired, blinking up at him with her large eyes, "you could stay for dinner if you'd like. Spaghetti always manages to serve a lot of people."

Ritsu felt his heart explode in his chest as he nodded dumbly in reply.

Haruhi grabbed two more boxes of noodles from the shelf and dropped them into her basket. It was a buy-two-get-one-free deal and she could always make spaghetti again later on in the week. She contemplated buying another can of tomato sauce, wondering if it was also on sale. If she bought another can, she wouldn't have to come back at a later time or worry about forgetting to buy some when she decided to cook the pasta dish again. Or she could make a completely different dish - alfredo, pomodoro – there were so many choices!

"I think I should get another can of tomato sauce," Haruhi mused aloud.

"I'll get it," Ritsu mumbled, rushing away from the girl as an excuse to regain his composure. The color of his face had finally surpassed his hair.

Haruhi watched her companion disappear down an aisle before making her way towards the bakery. She would buy some bread since it was the Tuesday sale and it would go well with the spaghetti.

"Excuse me," she heard a voice call from behind her.

Haruhi, unaware that the person was talking to her, continued on towards the bread stand.

"Hey!" Haruhi turned around as a hand clasped itself on her shoulder.

The boy who had grabbed her seemed to be about Ritsu's height and he also possessed, what Haruhi considered, a rough exterior. There was a scar on his cheek and a band-aid plastered across the side of his left eyebrow.

"Yes?" Haruhi inquired.

"You wouldn't happen to know a 'Suoh, Tamaki,' would you?"

Haruhi felt her eye twitch at the sudden recollection of the blonde, "Yes, I know of him."

"Well then," the guy replied with a sinister grin, "if you know what's good for you, you'll avoid him at all costs."

"Alright," Haruhi said, having already planned that from the start. She turned back to the bread stand and glanced at the selection.

"Eh?" the guy questioned in a befuddled manner; he had not expected her to comply so easily, "Are you making fun of me or something?"

"No," Haruhi said, placing the bread she had picked out into her basket, "why would I do that?"

He growled out in anger, "You are making fun of me!"

"No, I'm not," Haruhi replied, turning around to walk past him. She'd track down Ritsu, pay for her items, and then they could head to her house so she could start on dinner.

Well, that's how things would've turned out had the boy behind her not decided to pursue a fight. He grabbed her free arm and roughly tugged her back towards him.

"You're overly sensitive," Haruhi stated in a bland tone, "you get upset when no one is insulting you. Why should it matter if Suoh-senpai and I speak to one another?" She paused for a moment, appearing thoughtful, before asking, "You wouldn't happen to be _attracted_ to him, would you?"

Feeling embarrassed by her sudden interrogation and highly insulted by her last question (she did, after all, allude to the possibility of him having a preference for men), the boy raised his hand to strike her.

Haruhi awaited the blow with wide eyes, but it never came.

She was tossed backward into a pair of familiar arms as the boy who had attempted to attack her fell to the ground. A man donning a black suit and tie had tackled him and was holding the boy's arms behind his back before securing them with a pair of handcuffs that he had pulled from his suit's pocket.

"Haruhi!" her 'saviors' exclaimed as they nuzzled her cheeks in affection, "we were so worried about you!"

"Have you been following me this whole time?" Haruhi dully inquired as Kaoru pressed his face into her neck.

"We had to get Kyoya-senpai's help to locate your position," Hikaru said as he wrapped his arms around her thin-frame, pulling her against his body.

Haruhi redirected her attention to the sidelines where the rest of the Host Club members stood, watching the scene with varying facial expressions.

"What about your club meeting?" Haruhi inquired.

"We didn't have club meetings today," Kaoru said, "because one of Tamaki's designators broke a teapot the other day and Kyoya-senpai decided we needed the day off in order to purchase a new collection."

"You really needed to order a new collection? Don't you have other teapots?"

Kaoru 'tsked' lightly.

The raven-haired boy, situated next to the club president, provided her with a charming, fake smile, saying, "We, the Host Club, exist for the sole purpose of bringing joy and pleasure to the women we serve. It would be an insult to the ladies if we treated them with second-rate services."

"I see," Haruhi said, thinking the whole thing was ridiculous, "but why are you all here?"

Shrugging his shoulders, the raven-haired boy merely said, "I extended my services to assist the Hitachiin twins, but as for the rest of the Host Club – ah, well - obviously they had nothing better to do. By the way, good work, Tachibana. Have you extracted any information so far?"

The man, who was still sitting on top of the boy who had attempted to attack Haruhi, grunted out, "Thank you, young master, and I have. He says he is working for a 'Miss Ayanokoji.'"

"Huh! Wasn't that the name of the girl who broke the teapot yesterday?" Hikaru asked.

"Yes, it was," Tamaki Suoh said, "and we had to ban her from the clubroom because she has yet to pay the fine for the damaged tea set. I suppose we must expel her completely from using the services offered by our club."

"NO!"

All heads (including those of several shoppers who had gathered to examine the group of richly dressed high school students) whipped towards the entrance of the store where a girl, dressed in the Ouran uniform, stood.

"You can't do that – please don't do that, Tamaki-sama!" the girl wailed, tears running down her cheeks.

"As much as it pains me to break a fair maiden's heart, I must, Ayanokoji-hime."

"But," she said, biting at her lower lip in a pitiful pout, "all I did was for you! Yesterday, that girl deserved to have tea dropped on her – and worse! She should suffer for forgetting her place and touching you in such a familiar way! And this girl," she pointed a finely manicured finger at Haruhi, "shouldn't even _look_ at you, Tamaki-sama."

"I am honored to have your loyalty and adoration, my lady," the violet-eyed boy said, "however, the Host Club does not work in such a way. We seek to bring pleasure to all mademoiselles, and the behavior you have demonstrated at the club has sullied your name. Therefore, we, the members of the Host Club, must request that you never return."

"Tamaki-sama!" Ayanokoji cried out, "you idiot!"

She turned on her heel and attempted to flee from the store, but ended up colliding with a shopping cart that an old lady had been in the process of pushing through the door.

Letting off a frustrated scream, Ayanokoji stood back up and bolted through the door with nobody attempting to stop her from leaving.

"Was that part of a drama?" one shopper asked.

"Ah, kids these days! So lively, yet so full of angst," another lamented.

"I think we should get out of here," the raven-haired boy proclaimed, "Tachibana, please escort this boy out."

"Of course, Kyoya-sama. Shall I expect your arrival at the mansion?"

"Yes, and please tell the staff to have dinner prepared by the time I arrive. I estimate thirty-two minutes," Kyoya replied.

With a nod, Tachibana hauled the boy up from the ground and forcefully dragged him from the store.

Kyoya turned to follow him, but was stopped by Haruhi's question.

"Where's Kasanoda-kun?"

The bespectacled boy inclined his head as if racking his brain for any note as to the name's significance, "That was the boy Tachibana first knocked out."

"Why would he do that?" Haruhi inquired.

"The twins clearly stated that the redhead was the one holding you captive," he replied.

Haruhi turned to face the brothers who had just released her and taken a few steps back.

"Ah-ha-ha," the twins laughed nervously, "wrong suspect?"

"Where is he?" she asked.

"He went flying through three different aisles of food!" the little blonde boy called excitedly from the back, "Right, Takashi?"

"Yeah," the blonde boy's companion grunted in agreement.

"Oh," Haruhi mused aloud, "I suppose I should help him to my house, since I don't know where he lives or who I could call to pick him up. After all, I did invite him to dinner..."

"What?!" the twins (and Tamaki) cried out, "what about us?!"

"What about you?" the girl asked with a pointed look.

"We want Haruhi's cooking too!" the twins (and Tamaki) shouted.

"I already said I wasn't going to cook for you," she replied.

"We'll take him home then," Hikaru declared.

"Do you even know where he lives?" Haruhi retorted.

"No, but why would we make our toy suffer lugging around a heavy guy like him?"

Haruhi gave him a frustrated glance at the reminder of her (unwanted) position.

"I've got his address," Kyoya said, holding up a scrap of paper in his hand.

"He really is the Shadow King," Kaoru whispered loud enough for both Haruhi and his brother to hear.

"What do you mean?" Haruhi asked, looking at the younger twin with a curious expression.

"He works in mysterious ways – behind the scenes, if you will – and plays everyone and everything to his liking."

"I can hear you quite fine, Hitachiin."

"But you don't know which one is which," Kaoru teased back.

"By the way," Kyoya said, "don't forget about the contract you and your brother signed."

"Ya, ya, whatever" the twins chimed simultaneously.

"Contract?" Haruhi questioned.

"I've got the scary-yakuza-guy!" the child-like boy interrupted, dragging the (forgotten) redhead by the hair.

Haruhi hadn't even realized the blonde-haired boy had gone to fetch her friend. He appeared to be unconscious still and she briefly wondered what exactly the Tachibana person had done to him.

"Mitsukuni," Takashi said.

"Aw, Takashi! Fine," Mitsukuni pouted, letting go of the redhead's hair. The tall, dark-haired senior moved towards the unconscious boy and picked him up, swinging the yakuza heir onto his back.

"We'll take this guy back in our limo, 'kay, Kyoya-chan?" Mitsukuni said, bouncing over to the "Shadow King" in order to fetch the piece of paper with the address written on it.

"See you later!" Mitsukuni bid with an energetic wave, running out of the store with Takashi (and Ritsu) trailing behind.

"We'd better get going too," Tamaki said with a frown, "I've got to meet father for dinner."

"Yes," Kyoya agreed, "and I dislike keeping people waiting."

"What about this 'contract' you were talking about?" Haruhi inquired.

Kyoya waved his hand in the air, dismissing her question, "Just have the twins explain it to you."

The president and the vice president exited the store, leaving the twins and Haruhi staring at their backs.

"So what's this about a contract?"

The twins dropped their shoulders in a dejected manner.

"Basically," Kaoru started.

Hikaru continued, "We promised to stop playing pranks or Kyoya-senpai."

"But only if he allowed you to come to the Host Club free of charge, along with helping us rescue you from the yakuza guy!"

"You didn't have to ask him to allow me to come free of charge," Haruhi stated, "it's not like I'm going to come to your club meetings anyways."

"Ah – ah," Hikaru said, wagging his finger.

Kaoru whipped out a blue, plastic ring and pressed the top.

"_I thought I was your toy?"_

"What is that?" Haruhi asked, recognizing the sound that had just been emitted had been a recording of her earlier 'confession.'

"A ring voice recorder. It's a top secret piece of equipment that we bought from this spy gadget catalog."

"It looks like a mail-order cereal box prize," Haruhi said, examining it closer.

Looking offended, Kaoru withdrew the ring and tucked it into his pocket.

"But the point is: you admitted it and we have proof. We can have you do _anything_."

She gave him a bland expression.

"I've got things I have to do after school. Hanging around the clubroom to provide you two with a source of entertainment is not a part of my plans."

"What else are we going to do to keep us entertained. After all, we gave up playing pranks on Kyoya-senpai just to be able to keep you around!"

Haruhi rolled her eyes, saying, "Perhaps it's a sign that you shouldn't be playing pranks in the first place."

"Unlikely!" the twins chorused.

"Anyways," Haruhi interrupted, "I need to go purchase these items and head home to cook dinner. I'll see you two tomorrow."

"We want to come have dinner with you," the twins whined.

"No."

"You invited the yakuza-guy to have dinner with you, but you won't invite your best friends?"

Haruhi shook her head, "Unlike Kasanoda-kun, you two would probably just complain about how 'common' my home is. I'd rather do without."

"But Haruhi!"

"No."

"Then...we'll just have to invite you to dinner at our mansion! Gourmet food and all," Hikaru announced.

"I'll pass," Haruhi said, resisting the rather tempting offer of food. She'd rather not have to deal with the twins outside of school, especially since she could barely handle them during school hours.

"Then it's settled. We'll have dinner tomorrow at our place. See you at school tomorrow, Haruhi!" the twins proclaimed, running out of the store.

Haruhi stared at their retreating figures with a blank stare. She really needed to find out how to drill the word "no" into their heads.

* * *

**-'Kumonri-Koi-Chan'-:** Oh, it really gave off that effect? Just to clear things up, the three-way pairing is not out of the running yet. 

**Mistress Darky:** Maybe they'll visit further along in the story, but I did add the "Tamaki-sama, you idiot!" bit just for you.

**mak0-ch1:** Even though Kyoya appeared in this chapter, his character is still developing.

**AnnaSaphir:** If only I could allow Kasanoda to remain conscious long enough to actually give his opinion...

**CultKagome and Sesshomaru:** Neckozawa will, most likely, maintain a passive role. I'm still trying to see what I can do with the rest of the Host Club, but I'm planning on basing the story's plot on the anime series.

**Thanks so much for your reviews!**


	6. Chapter 6

It was rather cold in the morning, Haruhi realized as she glanced at herself in the full-body mirror. She was clad solely in a towel within the privacy of her bedroom. After the previous day's supermarket fiasco, she had come home, eaten dinner, finished her homework, and went to sleep after deciding that she would take a shower in the morning. Perhaps it wasn't the best decision, seeing how cold she was, but at least she was finally able to conclude that being around the Host Club members – or maybe just the Hitachiin twins – depleted both her physical and mental stamina.

Her father hadn't come home the previous night, but had instead left a note on the refrigerator stating that he was remaining at work late for business purposes. This immediately registered in Haruhi's mind as, "out drinking; crashing at someone else's house – don't wait up." She already knew that her father hated her seeing him intoxicated. She could care less about the fact that he indulged himself in alcohol – everyone else seemed to. As long as he wasn't killing himself with alcohol poisoning, she wasn't truly concerned.

Haruhi unwrapped the towel from around her slender body and placed it on her bed. She slipped into her undergarments and then glanced at herself in the mirror. She hadn't grown much from when she had been in junior high, but she was still in the stage of her life in which she could care less about her looks. Her father, on the other hand, couldn't seem to wait for the day on which his daughter would gain some consciousness for her outward appearance; however, Haruhi doubted that day would ever come about.

_Ring, ring, ring, knock, ring, knock, ring, knock, knock_

The odd combination of sounds signifying that someone was at the door had Haruhi wrapping the towel around herself once more in a calm, unhurried motion. She briefly wondered how anyone could knock on the door and ring the doorbell so quickly – or in that combination – but nevertheless ventured towards the door; she figured it was probably her father having forgotten his house key again.

She opened the door, bracing herself for the cold, morning air and immediately shivered as her body attempted to adjust to the new temperature.

"Hey, Haru – _woah_!"

Haruhi blinked at the two twins standing in front of her; they both appeared to be in a state of shock.

"Why are you two here?" Haruhi deadpanned. She was unabashed by her state of undress due to the fact that she was more-or-less completely concealed. Sure, her shoulders and legs were beginning to feel like icicles, but maybe the brothers actually had a good reason for bothering her so early in the day.

The twins, however, couldn't decide on their next course of action as they stared, open-mouthed at the barely dressed girl.

Kaoru, who Haruhi had decided to be the more sensible of the two, was the first to recover from the initial shock, "We wanted to treat you to breakfast before school."

"I'll pass, but thank you for the invitation," Haruhi stated, intent on closing the door.

"Hey!" Hikaru shouted, having finally recovered. He stuck his foot out to prevent the door from fully closing and succeeded in pulling it back open.

"What now?" Haruhi inquired, growing impatient from the cold air flooding into the room. Goosebumps were already littering her skin.

"Kaoru and I woke up really early so we could have breakfast with you," Hikaru said with a frustrated expression, managing to keep his gaze locked onto her face. He was trying to imagine her in a terry cloth, spaghetti-strap dress rather than the towel with unhidden bra-straps she was currently donning, but was failing miserably in the process.

Haruhi glanced a bit closer at the matching, tired expressions that both twins donned, and suddenly felt a tad bit reluctant about refusing their generous offer.

"Fine," she conceded, "just let me go get dressed."

She had already turned around, leaving the door open for the twins to follow her into the house, and headed back to her bedroom. She missed the shared smiles and hidden high-five as she closed the bedroom door behind her.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"How did you two find my house anyways?" Haruhi asked as the twins snuggled against her from either side.

After changing into her Ouran uniform, she had rejoined the twins in the main-living space. They had been busily examining the apartment that she and her father shared, stating that they had never been inside a commoner's house, but had – thankfully – spared her home of any poor remarks or criticism.

"Kyoya-senpai," the twins chorused with closed eyes. The two brothers had both just decided that Haruhi was a better pillow than their swan-feathered ones at home.

Haruhi rolled her eyes, "And how did he come about finding my address?"

"The Shadow King knows all," Kaoru joked, wrapping his arms around Haruhi's waist.

Hikaru mirrored his brother's positioning, "He has secret police."

"And a deadly mind."

"He also has all of Japan working for him."

"Not just Japan, Kaoru; he has the United States under his control, too..."

"...and probably all of Europe."

"Does he really?" Haruhi inquired, not really believing anything the twins had just said – except for the deadly mind, of course; she had already viewed that first-hand.

"He does," the twins chorused, shivering at the thought of the 'cool-type.'

"That seems a bit far fetched," Haruhi stated.

"Well, maybe he doesn't have entire countries under his control," Hikaru conceded.

Kaoru added, "He does have a private army at his disposal, though"

"And those bodyguards of his..."

"Alright, alright," Haruhi said with a sigh, "I understand what you mean."

"Young masters," the driver called from the front seat, "we have arrived at the estate."

"Already?" Hikaru and Kaoru inquired in disappointed tones as they untangled themselves from the girl.

Haruhi sent up a silent prayer of thanks, glad that she was no longer going to be used as a cushion by the two brothers.

The driver opened the door on Kaoru's side and the younger twin slid across the leather seats until he was outside. He turned around to extend his hand to help Haruhi out, but she had already climbed through the door and was gazing at the large mansion in front of her with wide eyes.

She couldn't tell which was bigger: Ouran or the mansion in front of her?

"Welcome to our home!" the brothers chorused with identical grins.

"It's really big," Haruhi commented, a bit awestruck by the immense size.

"My lord and Kyoya-senpai have larger estates than us," Kaoru contributed.

"Can we stop standing out here? I'm starved," Hikaru said.

"So am I," Kaoru agreed.

Haruhi watched as each twin latched onto either side of her.

"Just so you don't get lost," they stated in conspiratorial tones.

As she was dragged through the enormous doors and into the vast Hitachiin mansion, she began to blink rapidly as bright lights engulfed her vision. About every five-feet, there was a chandelier hanging from the tall ceiling of the long hallway.

She briefly wondered what their electric bill was.

.x.o.x.o.x.

They finally arrived at their destination: the dining room, the twins had said.

It was, like everything else about the place, humongous. Did rich people need to compensate for something, or did they just enjoy dwelling in unreasonably spacious areas? Whatever it was, Haruhi wondered what anyone needed over two hundred seats at a dinner table for.

"The table extends farther out, depending on the situation. Mom likes to turn it into a runway sometimes."

"Like when we were seven! You know, Kaoru, the red and green Christmas event? Now that – that was hilarious."

Matching grins spread across both of their faces, and Haruhi began to wonder what exactly happened on the Christmas event they were talking about. Thankfully, Kaoru clued her in.

"Mom had decided to let the models walk across table and show off some of her new designs while the rest of the guests were eating dinner, but Hikaru and I pushed the gravy bowl a bit too far in and..."

Haruhi gazed at the two of them. They really were pranksters!

"She stumbled over, sending the gravy bowl flying into the air, and then she fell off the table and into that one photographer's lap," Hikaru added in.

"Then the model behind her had the gravy bowl land on her head, and she stepped into the turkey..."

"Crashed off the table with her arms flailing..."

"And then the two of you didn't get dessert for a week."

Haruhi whipped her head around to face the newcomer that had just spoken.

Before her stood a middle-aged woman with a vibrant smile. She had short-cropped hair, styled in the same manner as the twins', and her clothing was both stylish and impeccable. She looked kind and good-natured, but Haruhi could sense the typical prankster-attitude hidden beneath her outward appearance.

"Hey, mom!" the twins exclaimed, releasing Haruhi before jumping onto the newcomer.

They wrapped their arms around the woman and embraced her in a tight hug.

"How are you, boys?" Mrs. Hitachiin inquired, grinning at both of them, "Haven't been causing too much trouble, have you?"

"Us?" the twins asked innocently, "Never!"

"Of course not. After all, you two are my darling angels," Mrs. Hitachiin said, her grin widening.

Haruhi stopped herself from falling over. Angels? No – devils would be the correct term. Little devils, to be precise. She had, in the process of attempting to not fall down, drawn the woman's attention to herself.

"Oh, who's this?" the woman asked as she quickly swept over to Haruhi's side and grabbed onto her shoulders, "One of your classmates? Have you boys finally been making friends? Or is it your girlfriend? Are you sharing her? Isn't she cute? She looks just like a doll I used to have when I was a little girl. Would you like to model some of my new designs, dear?"

"Mom," Hikaru said with a grin, "this is Haruhi. Fujioka Haruhi. She sits between us during class."

"Really?" Mrs. Hitachiin asked with a surprised expression, "I remember when you two never let anyone come between you!"

"That was just last week," Kaoru joked.

"But I've been in Brazil all this time for the photo-shoots," she whined, "I don't get enough time to see my babies!"

"We were just about to have breakfast," Hikaru said, "are you going to be able to eat with us?"

"Of course I can," their mother said, looking at her designer watch, "but don't you three have school soon?"

"Ya, ya," the twins chorused, waving her comment away in an unconcerned fashion, "we'll get there – eventually."

"Wait," Haruhi interrupted; she had forgotten her watch after hurrying to get dressed, "how long do we have before school, anyways?"

The twins turned to face her, "Enough time to eat breakfast."

"You get to school so early anyways," Hikaru said.

"Oh, dear, if you want, I could just write you three an excuse to take to school in case you're running late. I'd really love to chat with you, Haruhi," Mrs. Hitachiin said with a good-natured smile.

"Yeah, Haruhi," Kaoru said, "it's not like you'd really be missing much. You're really smart, aren't you?"

"That's not the point," Haruhi said, "but, I'd appreciate it if you'd be conscientious about the time."

"Fine," the twins (and their mother) conceded.

"Thank you," she replied with a warm smile.

'How cute!' the three thought before leading her to one end of the table.

Haruhi was seated between the twins at one side of the table while their mother decided to place herself at the head. As soon as the four had seated themselves, a trail of servants emerged from a side door and walked into the room with platters of steaming-hot food.

"Help yourself," Mrs. Hitachiin said as the servants placed pancakes, waffles, eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, and almost every other piece of western-breakfast food on the table in front of the four.

Haruhi nodded and picked up one of the forks at her side. It would be pointless to eat the food with chopsticks; besides, most of the items could be picked up using one's hands.

"So, Haruhi, dear," Mrs. Hitachiin started about two minutes into the meal, "are you dating either of my boys?"

"No," Haruhi said evenly as the twins looked at her wickedly.

"We own her," they replied.

"Is that so?" Mrs. Hitachiin asked, looking amused.

"I refuse to consent to being called a 'toy'," Haruhi deadpanned as she sipped on her orange juice.

"But she's good with 'plaything'," Hikaru added.

"Is that so?" the Hitachiin matriarch inquired, intrigued by the conversation, "Well, what do you like most about my sons, Haruhi?"

"To be honest, they're rude, and I can't get much work done when they're around," Haruhi stated, curious about the woman's amused smile, "but I've discovered that they're interesting people, and I think we can manage to be good friends."

"Really, Haruhi?" the twins asked with wide eyes. They wrapped their arms around her in a tight embrace as she bit into her toast.

"You three really are just so adorable," Mrs. Hitachiin said, wishing she had her camera. What a Kodak-moment!

Proud-parent-syndrome, Haruhi decided.

"Hikaru, can you get you take your hand out of my hair? Kaoru, my collar is fine. Why don't you two just eat your breakfast instead of taking food off of mine?"

Mrs. Hitachiin blinked in surprise. The girl had easily identified which twin was which, and it appeared she had actually gotten it right from the way her sons withdrew their hands.

"No fun!" the brothers pouted.

From the way her sons and the girl interacted, Mrs. Hitachiin could definitely conclude that she'd be seeing much more of the three of them together. She was glad that her boys were finally beginning to allow others into the separate world that they had established as children, and it was really the icing on the cake that the girl was so cute!

She was already formulating new designs to have Haruhi try on: casual wear, summer dresses, matching Halloween costumes, evening gowns, first date clothes...

"Hey mom," Hikaru interrupted her before she could start mentally-designing Haruhi's wedding dress, "we're going to head to school."

"Already?" Mrs. Hitachiin inquired, "Alright, have a good day, boys! It was really nice meeting you, Haruhi."

"It was really nice to meet you too, Hitachiin-san," Haruhi said with a small bow after she had pushed in her seat, "and thank you for having me over for breakfast."

"Anytime, dear," Mrs. Hitachiin said. Maybe the girl should stay for dinner, "really – anytime."

* * *

I've changed the title 'Textbook Romance' to 'Toy' - fits more, I believe. Basically, all the anime characters (and some manga characters) will most likely be introduced sooner or later in the story, but I'm iffy on Eclair... really iffy. On another note - thanks for all the reviews, guys; I'm almost to triple-digits! 


	7. Chapter 7

Hikaru stifled a yawn. Kaoru felt his eyes grow heavier with each passing second. Haruhi continued to jot down the important facts that the professor was droning on about.

While Haruhi listened intently to the lecture and Kaoru allowed his shoulders to slump, Hikaru added a few finishing touches to the matching outfits that he and his counterpart would be wearing to the 'Ouran Host Club Dance Party.' He had just decided on green ribbons instead of orange bow-ties.

Tamaki Suoh, King of the Host Club, had sent the elder of the two a text message during first period stating that the dance party would take place in a week. The message also 'subtly' mentioned that the brothers should inform the female scholarship student aboutd the dance and, in doing so, ensure her presence at the event.

Hikaru had already informed his twin about the dance party, and they had decided, since Kaoru was the more level-headed of the two, that Kaoru would find a way to get Haruhi to agree.

Kaoru had already decided, during lunch, on the perfect time to tell her: at the Host Club. After all, the 'little-devils' hadn't given up playing pranks on Kyoya for nothing. If she wasn't going to come to the club willingly, they had alternative methods already planned out. The younger Hitachiin twin glanced at the studious girl with a mischievous grin – one that she didn't notice as she proceeded with her note-taking.

Eight minutes later, after looking at the clock situated above the white board, the professor concluded, "I'll finish up the lecture next time; make sure to finish pages sixteen to nineteen in the practice workbook by next class."

Shuffling could be heard from around the classroom as the students stood up and grabbed their supplies. Hikaru and Kaoru shared knowing glances as they watched the girl close her notebook and tuck it into her schoolbag.

"Going somewhere?" Hikaru asked slyly.

"Home," she stated dully, "where else?"

"I don't know..." Kaoru trailed off, "the Host Club, perhaps?"

She looked at the younger twin for a second before placing her index finger against her cheek and tilting her head to the side. She appeared thoughtful as she attempted to figure out where the conversation was going and what exactly the younger twin was hinting at.

"I'm not coming with you two to the Host Club," she said, "remember what I said yesterday?"

"That you'd be coming to our club meetings every day from now on?" the twins innocently inquired.

Giving them a bland look, Haruhi bid them farewell and turned to leave, but was unfortunately prevented from doing so. In the few seconds that followed, Haruhi could only recall a glimmer of silver, an audible click, and the sensation of cool metal securing itself around her wrist.

"Eh?" Haruhi questioned, glancing at her now-handcuffed wrist. Kaoru locked his own wrist in the metal contraption before tossing her a devilish smirk.

"Guess you can't go home now, ne?" Hikaru asked, "So let's go to the club before my lord has a seizure."

"Or pops a blood vessel," Kaoru added.

Hikaru grinned, "Or orders Kyoya to sic his secret police on us."

"Or has Mori-senpai track us down."

Hikaru swallowed nervously "That means Hunny-senpai would come beat us up and drag us back. Black eyes and cracked ribs have never been considered chic."

"Kaoru, remove the handcuff, please?" Haruhi politely asked in an even tone despite her growing impatience for the conversation.

The younger twin looked at her with a smirk before replying in a taunting voice, "I don't think so!"

"Besides," Hikaru stated with a Cheshire-cat worthy grin, "we like having you around."

"Yeah," Kaoru agreed, "and it's not like you actually have to pay to be at the Host Club like any of the other girls."

"And – best of all – you get to stay with us the entire time!" the twins announced.

"Fantastic," Haruhi muttered as she tugged helplessly at the secure bond that the handcuff had on her wrist.

.x.o.x.o.x.

_'Opening the doors to the third music room, I discovered a tropical paradise...'_

It was a tropical paradise. A heated tropical paradise, to be exact.

Haruhi gazed around at the lush trees, exotic plants, and various tropical rain forest inhabitants scattered about the clubroom.

When Haruhi and the twins arrived at the clubroom, they had discovered that the rest of the members were already in the process of changing clothes; an 'occupied' sign hung from the doorknob of the Host Club's dressing room.

"Now will you release me?" Haruhi inquired as she glanced at the changing room door, already plotting her escape from the exotic clubroom and its eccentric members.

"You'll just try to escape if we do," Kaoru said, easily reading her thoughts as if she was an open book.

Hikaru continued, "And we can't have that happening, now can we?"

"So, we'll just wait until the others are out. They can keep watch over our toy while we change," the brothers chorused.

"Or," Hikaru purred against her ear, "you can watch us change."

"We don't mind," Kaoru whispered into her other ear.

"No thanks," Haruhi deadpanned despite the close proximity of the two.

"No fun!" the twins pouted while remaining propped up against her.

"How about you change into a different outfit? Surely you must be hot," Kaoru said as he fanned at his face with his free hand.

"Yeah," Hikaru added as he withdrew his cellphone from his pocket, "we can call our maids and tell them to bring some of our mother's designs over. You can pick out a bikini and sunbathe on the couch, or something, while we entertain our designators."

"I'll pass," Haruhi blandly responded, "I've got homework to do. Seeing as I'm not getting out of here anytime soon," she gestured to her handcuffed wrist with her free hand, "I might as well get started on the history essay."

"That's not due for another two weeks," the twins sighed exasperatedly.

She merely shrugged her shoulders in response as Hikaru tucked his cellphone back into his pocket.

The three freshmen turned to face the dressing room door which was beginning to open.

"Haru-chan came!" a blur of blonde exclaimed before attaching onto her midsection.

"Huh?" Haruhi asked as she looked down at the young-looking boy clinging to her waist like she was a stuffed animal. Speaking of stuffed animals...

"This is Bun-Bun!" the little boy exclaimed in a sunny and bright tone; his personality easily matched the vibrantly colored wrap that he donned, "You can hold him for awhile if you want, but make sure you give him back, 'kay?"

Haruhi blinked at the newly-obtained pink bunny before nodding in a confused manner. The little boy ran off to sit at one of the tables set up within the artificial forest setting.

The second member to emerge from the changing room was the tall senior that had carried Ritsu Kasanoda from the supermarket the previous day. Haruhi wondered if her friend had made it home safely, seeing as she hadn't seen him at all during the day. Instead of allowing the somber giant to pass by undisturbed, Haruhi inquired about her redheaded friend's wellbeing.

"He's fine," he replied before joining the younger-looking boy. With another glance at the table, Haruhi noticed that there were sweets and sugar-filled delights gleaming delightfully under the clubroom's bright lighting.

"Don't damage the bunny," Kaoru stated in a low, but deadly serious tone.

Hikaru, having overheard his brother's comment, nodded in agreement.

Before the twins could further explain the meaning of the stuffed animal, Kyoya Ootori swept out of the dressing room with the utmost grace, not bothering to even look at the three freshmen. Haruhi thought it was rude to act as if the three of them weren't even there to begin with, but decided against telling him so.

"If money – or merit – is not involved," Kaoru whispered, acknowledging Haruhi's tensed figure, "Kyoya-senpai wouldn't even think twice about the situation."

Finally, Tamaki Suoh, the president of the Host Club, entered the room with flourished arms and a vibrant atmosphere already surrounding him.

"Haruhi-hime!" he cried out in delight at seeing the brunette-haired girl.

"Hello, Suoh-senpai," she greeted with a smile. She was a bit uneasy around the boy, but he seemed harmless enough.

The exuberant blonde reached out to embrace her, but she was immediately tugged out of the way by Kaoru's quick reflexes.

"You pranksters!" the violet-eyed boy cried in despair, "Why must you always ruin such precious moments?"

"Kaoru, Hikaru," the raven-haired vice president called from his position by the refreshment bar, "go change. The clients will be arriving in less than seven minutes."

The twins waved away his comment, chorusing, "That's plenty of time!"

"Now, if you'd please," the Shadow King stated, a glimmer of light reflecting off the surface of his spectacles.

Haruhi shivered a bit from the sight of the Shadow King radiating a dark aura, but was relieved when Kaoru whipped out the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. He was already involved in the process of undoing the lock.

Well – that would have been the case...

"The key isn't working, Kaoru?" Hikaru questioned, moving in closer to examine the key being jabbed into the lock.

"Er, no, it isn't," Kaoru stated with a frustrated expression as he tried to unlock himself from the cuffs.

"You better not be joking," Haruhi deadpanned with narrow eyes.

"I'm not," Kaoru said before handing the key to Hikaru, "here, you try, Hikaru."

The older twin twisted the key in the lock, jiggled it, but nothing seemed to work.

"Four minutes until club opens," Kyoya Ootori stated in an unamused tone.

"Er," Hikaru and Kaoru said, exchanging looks. They directed their attention to Haruhi who was staring so intently at her wrist that the twins thought she was trying to bend the metal with her mind.

"I do wonder how you two will manage to change clothes," Kyoya mused with a dry chuckle, "after all, it's very difficult to be discreet when taking one's pants off. Can't exactly put the swim trunks over your boxers, can you?"

"You twins are dastardly villains out to corrupt the purity of innocent maidens," Tamaki proclaimed, ready to defend the scholarship student's honor at any second, "I shan't let that happen to Haruhi-hime."

"Eh?!" Kaoru exclaimed as his wrist fell to his side. Haruhi had somehow managed to free them both from the cuffs.

"You just need to add a certain amount of pressure to the cuffs," Haruhi stated dully, "you can get those handcuffs at any Halloween store or magic shop. They don't require a key."

"Oh," the twins chorused.

"Kaoru, Hikaru," Kyoya snapped, "two minutes."

"Fine, fine," Hikaru stated, waving his hand in the air as if dismissing the older boy. The twins wandered into the dressing room, leaving Haruhi in the hands of a glistening Tamaki.

"If you're already perspiring – even though it's April and the weather is considerably cooler," Haruhi thought this was unreasonable and her tone successfully conveyed her opinion, "perhaps you should turn on the air conditioner."

"Ah, my fairy princess! How intelligent you are!" Tamaki praised before embracing her, "However, I will bear this heat solely for beautiful maidens such as yourself, so that my perfect body may be gazed upon by all!"

Haruhi slipped through his arms and took a few steps backwards.

The twins stepped out of the dressing room thirty-two seconds before the doors were scheduled to open. Haruhi was offered a seat at the twin's table, but opted to sit at the refreshment bar where Kyoya was scribbling down notes in his black notebook.

"Why did you choose to sit over here?" The youngest son of the Ootori family asked without looking up from his notebook, "Do you not find the twins to be appealing company?"

"It would be impossible to get any of my work done," Haruhi replied in an even tone as she outlined her history essay on a piece of paper that she had torn from her notebook, "besides, I wouldn't want to steal their attention, especially not while they're on duty."

Nodding his head to himself, Kyoya agreed with her decision and left it at that.

.x.o.x.o.x.

Twenty minutes had passed since the doors to the third music room had swung open.

...Twenty minutes before all hell broke loose.

Haruhi glanced up from her essay as she heard a feminine voice address the boy she had forgotten was sitting next to her; she had been too caught up in her essay and was already prepared to work on her second body paragraph.

"Kyoya-kun," a brown-haired girl said in a politely cool, "perhaps I can designate you today?"

"Lady Kasugasaki," Kyoya greeted with a charmingly fake smile, "I must apologize, but I am extremely overworked; perhaps Tamaki's company might be able to appease your desires?"

"Ah," the girl replied with a pout, "but I have grown dreadfully tired of his company, and I wish to be entertained by someone new."

The sound of a teacup being smashed into a million pieces had Haruhi craning her head towards the blonde haired club president who was looking terribly childish with a forlorn and distraught expression plastered across his elegant features. Apparently, he had heard the comment.

Haruhi heard the boy next to her emit an audible sigh of frustration before he muttered, "At least that wasn't a part of the new collection."

While "Lady Kasugasaki" had followed Kyoya over to the scene of the mess, Hikaru and Kaoru had somehow sidled up next to her during the confusion over the broken teacup.

"My lord seems depressed," Hikaru commented as he leaned against the refreshment bar.

"Well," Kaoru added, "Kasugasaki-san had favored him for such a long period of time."

"Yeah, compared to us. How long did we entertain her for? Ten minutes?" Hikaru asked with an amused tone.

"Couldn't seem to understand our brotherly love," Kaoru sighed in mock disappointment before deciding to nuzzle Haruhi's cheek in affection.

"Not like our beloved toy," Hikaru said, mirroring his brother's actions as he pressed his face against the girl's cheek.

"So who is she?" Haruhi inquired. Her large, brown eyes were locked onto the girl.

"Kasugasaki Kanako," Hikaru stated, as he wrapped his arms around her neck in an embrace, "over time, she hops from host to host, but she's always here."

"While most girls constantly designate their favored host," Kaoru added, "Kasugasaki-san is never satisfied."

"Then why is Tamaki-senpai so distraught over her decision to designate Ootori-san?" Haruhi inquired, choosing to use the more formal tone for the raven haired upperclassmen because she did not feel at all comfortable around him – except when they were both in mutual agreement about ignoring each other's presence.

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders for a moment, "He was designated for the longest period of time out of all of us."

"And," Kaoru added, "that comment must have stung."

"So, he's vain?"

Hikaru and Kaoru cracked identical grins as they stared at their pitiful club president, "Basically."

.x.o.x.o.x.

After cleaning up the broken teacup (Kyoya had called over one of his personal house cleaners), the rest of the members returned to the task of entertaining their designators. Well, Tamaki was more or less comforted by his other clients who sought to find different ways to cheer up the miserable violet-eyed blonde.

Kanako Kasugasaki had chosen to sit at the refreshment bar with Haruhi Fujioka and she absentmindedly sipped at her tea.

"So why aren't you being hosted?" Kanako inquired of her younger companion who was still working on her essay.

Haruhi shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly as she scratched out a phrase that was in desperate need of rewording, "To be honest, I think it'd be a waste of my time."

"Do you really think that?" Kanako asked in a surprised tone. She had never heard any negative criticism about the Host Club from any other female on campus.

"Yes," Haruhi stated as she jotted down a conclusion to her second body paragraph, "being entertained by sweet words and false promises has never seemed appealing."

"But at least you _know_ they're not out to hurt you," the older girl retorted, a bit more forcefully than she should have, "you don't fall in love with them, only to have them leave you."

Haruhi looked at her curiously, feeling as if she was missing out on something, but could not inquire further because she was interrupted by the twins throwing their arms around her. Apparently, she had not even been aware of the fact that the session had just ended.

Kanako, who appeared to have recovered from her rant, stood up from her seat atop of the bamboo stool and faced Tamaki.

"I'm sorry for my rude comment; I did not mean for it to be offensive," she said in a polite tone.

Tamaki nodded in an understanding way, although he was still disappointed with her decision to abandon him as her favorite.

"And Kyoya-kun, I must say this tea set is lovely. Ginori, I assume?"

"What a wonderful eye you have," the Shadow King stated in a pleasantly falsified tone despite the irritation he felt for having to entertain guests even after the club had closed down for the day, "they just came in the other day."

Haruhi noticed that the other girl's fingertips were still absently stroking the cup.

"Excuse me?"

Haruhi and the other members turned to face the newcomer; however, Kanako's whole body seemed to stiffen at the tone she was well familiarized with.

"Suzushima-kun," Kyoya Ootori greeted the newcomer in a business tone, "is that the new shipment?"

"Yes," the newcomer stated as he handed the box he had been carrying to the raven-haired boy.

Haruhi examined him with a curious gaze. He was average-looking compared to the Host Club boys, but he was wearing the standard Ouran uniform, just without the blue jacket.

"Excuse me," Kanako said as she hurried towards the door. As she strode past the newcomer, she pretended not to notice his presence, "I must be going."

The average-looking boy spun around to watch her leave, but did not call out to her like Haruhi thought he would. He had a bewildered expression on his face, and Haruhi could easily derive that there was something going on between the two; however, she did not feel that it would be correct to interfere.

The boy wandered out of the room a moment later after bowing to Kyoya and thanking him for his business. Kyoya nodded his head in blatant dismissal before moving to set the box on top of the refreshment bar.

"What's going on between those two?" Hikaru asked, having also picked up on the uneasy vibes that the two upperclassmen had been practically radiating.

"Suzushima Tohru and Kanako Kasugasaki are engaged," Kyoya stated in a bored tone as he pulled out his cellphone, "their parents agreed on their engagement when they were both children."

"How long have you known about this, mother?!" Tamaki cried out in an annoyed fashion.

"Mother?" the twins deadpanned as they looked at each other from over Haruhi's head, "Who is he referring to?"

Kyoya rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Does Kasuga-chan not like Suzu-chan?" Hunny asked in his boyish tone of voice.

The Shadow King flipped open his infamous black notebook and turned to a particular page before reading out, "Suzushima-san is expected to travel abroad within the month; therefore leaving Kasugasaki-san to remain here."

"How tragic!" Tamaki cried out in a distressed voice, "We must aid the two!"

"We?" the twins asked.

"Yes, _we,_"Tamaki stressed the word, "the Host Club, exist solely to for the purpose of bringing happiness to all of the young ladies at this academy."

"Eh," Hikaru said, scratching his head, "what's in it for us?"

"I've got a deal for you, Kyoya-senpai," Kaoru interrupted, "you make Haruhi come to the dance party, and we'll help out."

Kyoya, who already had a plot forming in his mind about how to go about solving his friend's idiotic plans to assist the young lovers, gave the younger twin a professional smile, "Deal."

"Dance... party?" Haruhi inquired, looking at the two twins with a curious expression.

"We – well, I," Kaoru corrected himself, "was going to tell you later, but I guess now I don't have to come up with my own plan to get you to go."

"And why do I have to go?" Haruhi deadpanned, "I do have a life outside of school, you know?"

"Yeah, our friendship!" the twins teased.

"You wouldn't happen to have a passport, would you?" Kyoya asked the girl as a glimmer of light reflected off his glasses, giving him an intimidating aura.

"Uh... no," Haruhi said.

"Good," the Shadow King replied with a small flash of teeth: the smile of a predator.

Haruhi swallowed nervously and wondered if she already had a dress at home to wear to the event.

* * *

I wonder how many of you thought that Haruhi was going to be stuck with Kaoru for the whole chapter or longer? I'm glad the title-change didn't bother you guys. 


	8. Chapter 8

"Is this really necessary?" Haruhi inquired as she twirled around, examining her reflection in the set of mirrors stationed before her. She watched as the twins smirked and nodded approvingly at the yellow strapless dress she was wrapped in.

Mrs. Hitachiin chuckled at the girl's question, "Of course, dear."

"Couldn't we have stopped after the purple dress you three agreed on? Or the green? Maybe even the blue? I have a test I need to begin studying for, and we've already been at this for over two hours..."

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, unconcerned by her complaints, "What happens if we stop before we find a dress that we really, _really_ like?"

"But you already said you really, _really_," she stressed the word, "liked the silver dress."

"That was after we saw the periwinkle one," Hikaru retorted.

"Besides, only twenty-three more to go!" Kaoru exclaimed as he gestured towards the rack of beautiful dresses behind him.

"Well, from mom's collection at least," Hikaru added as he nodded his head in the direction of another rack full of gowns, "you still need to try on the ones Kaoru and I designed. That's another seven there."

"Yeah, and you can't refuse to try them on because we spent so much time making them!" Kaoru said.

"Probably got a bad grade on our science exam because of that too," Hikaru lamented, "we worked all night long to get the stitching just right."

Mrs. Hitachiin smiled in an amused manner. She knew perfectly well that her boys were good students and had never failed a single test, homework assignment, or project in their life.

Haruhi sighed, clearly falling for their bait, "I still need to cook dinner, though."

_'Perfect chance!'_ Mrs. Hitachiin thought before immediately offering, "Why don't you eat with us?"

"I'd hate to intrude," Haruhi said, a bit reluctant to accept. They'd probably make her stay even longer to model the remaining dresses. She was surprised they hadn't declared a sleepover yet.

"Nonsense, Haru-chan," Mrs. Hitachiin cooed in the sweetest tone as she glanced at her sons out of the corner of her eye; they were eagerly awaiting the scholarship student's answer, "we'd simply love to have you!"

"Um, well," the girl pondered, "I suppose I could..."

"Great then!" the well-known designer interrupted before the girl could change her mind, "You can tell me all about how your school day was over dinner, but first, be a dear and try on this white evening gown."

.x.o.x.o.x.

The week had gone by more-or-less smoother than Haruhi Fujioka would have expected. Although she hadn't had the chance to have a decent conversation with Ritsu Kasanoda, at least she knew he was alright. The yakuza-group heir had returned to school on Monday, but between schoolwork, the twins, and her reluctant afternoon visits to the Host Club, she hadn't had much time to catch up with her redheaded friend's whereabouts.

It was the day before the Host Club's 'Dance Party' and Hikaru and Kaoru had practically kidnapped her after class was dismissed. The club was closed for the afternoon in preparation of the next day's event, but the twins had declared that they'd be finding the perfect dress for their 'toy.'

"Plaything," Kaoru had corrected his brother, earning a painfully intimidating (yet, somehow, still adorable) glare from the scholarship student.

'Finding Haruhi the Perfect Dress' had somehow turned into 'Transform Haruhi Into a Dress-Up Doll,' an event that Mrs. Hitachiin had gleefully invited herself to participate in.

And finally, after 'Transform Haruhi Into a Dress-Up Doll' had concluded, the scholarship student then found herself sitting across from the Hitachiin matriarch at the extravagant table in the dining hall of their mansion.

"So what's this about a 'Dance Party' my boys have been going on about? I swear, they won't tell me a thing," the woman stated.

"To be honest," Haruhi replied as she picked up her glass of water, "I really don't know either. I suppose it's just a dance that the Host Club arranges."

"That's pretty much it," the twins stated in agreement.

"Tamaki-senpai makes it seem much bigger than it really is," Haruhi admitted. The Host Club's president had talked non-stop about the event ever since it was announced.

"Eh, it's not too bad," Hikaru said before taking another bite of his steak.

"We just dance with the girls the whole night," Kaoru stated, "speaking of which – do you know how to waltz, Haruhi?"

"No," Haruhi replied, looking at the younger twin with a curious expression. What teenager waltzed at a dance?

Hikaru almost choked on the piece of meat in his mouth, and quickly chugged down the rest of his water.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Mrs. Hitachiin inquired in a distressed tone. She seemed ready to summon the family doctor.

"I'm fine, but I don't know about Haruhi," Hikaru replied.

"How are we going to dance with her if she can't dance?" Kaoru inquired of his twin.

"Who said anything about me dancing?" Haruhi deadpanned.

"What, you expect us to dance with the other girls the whole night?" Hikaru questioned.

"Obviously."

"Now, now, dears," Mrs. Hitachiin said as she settled back down into her seat, "the waltz is not a very difficult dance to learn. Then again, you two spent nearly a month attempting to master it..."

"You couldn't find us a good dance instructor," the brothers argued.

"All they wanted to do," Mrs. Hitachiin said as she turned her attention to Haruhi, "was dance with each other. 'If we can't dance with each other, we don't want to dance at all,' they'd say."

Hikaru groaned, "Just tune her out, Haruhi."

"So I finally decided, 'fine, they can dance with each other,' and I dressed them -"

"Mom!" Kaoru complained, "could you please refrain yourself from telling embarrassing stories? We've got a reputation to uphold, here."

Mrs. Hitachiin sent her youngest son a devilish smile, one that Haruhi was already oh-so familiarized with.

"I dressed Kaoru as a girl so Hikaru could learn the boy's part, and then I dressed Hikaru as a girl so Kaoru could could learn the boy's part," Mrs. Hitachiin finished, watching her sons slump in defeat.

Haruhi smiled, "At the dances I attended in junior high, there was never any set dance pattern that we had to follow."

Kaoru and Hikaru could have kissed her for not adding any embarrassing comments to their already destroyed egos.

Mrs. Hitachiin smiled to herself. Such an interesting girl her sons had found!

"I guess learning the waltz isn't that big of a deal, anyways," Hikaru said, "Kyoya-senpai was talking about having Haruhi do something for him anyways."

"Oh yeah," Kaoru said, suddenly remembering the Shadow King's request.

"Eh?" Haruhi questioned.

"Remember that guy, Sushishimmy Toyah, or something?" Hikaru asked.

"Suzushima Tohru," Haruhi corrected.

"Well," Kaoru added, "my lord wants to help him and Kasugasaki-san make amends before he leaves to study abroad."

"And what's this have to do with me?" Haruhi inquired.

"Well, uh," Hikaru said, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"We're not too sure," Kaoru lied; he knew perfectly well as to what the Shadow King's plan was, but he was sure Haruhi wouldn't want to participate if she knew what she'd have to do, "but we're pretty sure we'll all find out tomorrow!"

"Would you mind coming back here tomorrow before the dance, Haru-chan?" Mrs. Hitachiin asked, interrupting the conversation, "my boys can take you to the school, but I'd love to take some pictures of you three all dressed up!"

"Sure," Haruhi said with a bright smile, unable to decline due to the woman's gracious hospitality, "I wouldn't mind."

"Great!" the Hitachiin matriarch declared, "well, let's have dessert – by the way, Haruhi, I'll send a limousine to come pick you up at six tomorrow, alright?"

Hikaru grinned slyly at the girl seated between him and his brother, "We can do your hair."

"And makeup," Kaoru added.

"We'll even help you get dressed, if you want," the twins joked.

"No," Haruhi deadpanned.

Mrs. Hitachiin chuckled as dessert arrived.

* * *

Mrs. Hitachiin, what a match-maker! Anyways, next chapter: Dance Party! 


	9. Chapter 9

Haruhi Fujioka could recall a time when Sundays were a relaxing day – a day when she didn't have school, chores, assignments (she finished them the day before), or worries. For her, Sundays were a day when she could kick back, watch some television, and just remain motionless for hours. She could have even taken a nap if she had felt like it.

Nowadays, however...

_Ring, knock, ring, ring, ring,_ "HARUHI!"_knock, knock, knock, ring, knock_.

"Commoner doorbells are so intriguing," Kaoru commented in greeting as Haruhi swung the door open, revealing the two Hitachiin brothers.

"I thought your mother was sending over a limousine."

"Well...she did, but," Hikaru trailed off with a sly grin, indicating over his shoulder to where a black limousine was parked in front of the apartment complex. Haruhi could already see a crowd forming around the sleek vehicle.

Kaoru finished his twin's sentence, "We wanted to be the first to see you!"

"What's there to see? I'm not even dressed for the dance," Haruhi said, folding her arms in front of her chest. She was dressed in a baggy t-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts which seemed to drown her slender figure, but the twins thought she looked adorable bundled up in the over-sized attire.

Allowing her gaze to move from one twin to the next, Haruhi concluded that the boys standing in front of her were the reason her Sundays had become much more chaotic than they had ever been before. Actually, any day spent with the twins – which Haruhi could testify as being every day – was much more hectic than what she was used to, especially when the Host Club was added into the equation – and they usually were.

"Well, anyways," Kaoru said, "we should get going."

"After all, we still need to get your hair styled," Hikaru stated.

"And there's makeup that needs to be applied," Kaoru added.

"And, of course, the offer to let us dress you still stands," the twins chorused with devilish grins.

"However, yesterday's decision continues to remain the same," came the bland retort.

The twins snickered and swung their arms over her shoulders in an attempt to lead her to the waiting vehicle.

"One moment," Haruhi stated before sliding under the their long limbs and shuffling back towards her apartment. The door was still open and the lights were still on. Besides, she hadn't even had the time to put her shoes on.

"Haru–hi!" the twins called out as she disappeared through the door, "we'll be late if we have to wait a long time for you!"

"When has that ever been a concern for you two?" was shouted back.

The twins turned to face at each other, letting their grins widen at the typical comeback.

Less than a minute later, Haruhi was ready to go. She closed the door behind her, and the twins took their designated positions at her sides.

.x.o.x.o.x.

Haruhi emerged from the changing room nearly twenty minutes after her arrival at the Hitachiin Estate. Before the limousine had even fully stopped, she had been dragged out of the vehicle by another set of twins: two, young women dressed in maid uniforms. At least the brothers had been courteous enough to wave her away with a "goodbye, good luck," and – of course – their mischievous grins.

After she had been dressed in the pink gown that the twins had selected the previous day – one of their creations – the identical Hitachiin maids had practically shoved her into something that resembled a salon chair where a group of professionals started to direct the show. Her hair, nails, and makeup had all been completed at the same time, and the session ended less than five minutes after it had started.

"Haru-chan!" came a squeal, followed by a flash of bright light.

Two more flashes of light illuminated the already bright hallway as Haruhi gradually attempted to recover her eyesight from the first attack. When she could finally see once more, her gaze was locked onto the two "little devils" whom were holding identical cameras and looking mighty victorious.

"Isn't Haru-chan so cute looking?" Mrs. Hitachiin inquired of her sons who nodded and gave each other a thumbs up.

"The dress really suits her," Hikaru said to his twin.

"And the makeup is subtle," Kaoru added.

Choosing to disagree with Kaoru's comment, Haruhi interjected, "My face feels heavy."

"I'm glad we picked out those shoes rather than the stilettos," Hikaru contributed, ignoring her complaint.

"I don't think I can walk in these," the girl tottered a bit as she said this, choosing to lean on the wall for some extra support.

Mrs. Hitachiin ushered her boys to stand next to Haruhi so she could take a few more pictures, commenting, "Aren't you three just the cutest group ever?"

"You know it," the twins chorused as they posed behind Haruhi, providing her with hand-antlers.

"I'll have to send that one as a Christmas card to mother," the fashion designer joked as she watched the girl toss a curious glance over her shoulder.

After a few more photos were snapped by the doting mother, Hikaru and Kaoru chose to make a beeline for the limousine with an annoyed Haruhi in tow.

"I told you, it's difficult to walk in these," Haruhi stated as she was dragged in between the the brothers.

"Haven't you ever worn heels before?" Hikaru inquired as they finally made it outside.

"Of course," Haruhi stated in an 'obviously' tone of voice.

"Then what's the problem?" Kaoru asked as the limousine driver stepped out to open the door for the three.

"I didn't have to walk in them," Haruhi replied.

The twins shot her curious glances, "What do you mean?"

"For my birthday, my father bought a new outfit for me – high heels included. I had to try it on, but I didn't have to walk around in them," Haruhi stated before a thoughtful expression appeared on her face, "as a matter of fact, they're still in my closet."

"Your dad wouldn't happen to have some pictures from this event, would he?" Kaoru asked, sending his brother a look.

"Um..." Haruhi trailed off for a moment as she tried to recall the event, "I think he has a few. Why?"

"No reason!" the twins chorused a bit too innocently to be believable, but surprisingly, Haruhi let the conversation drop for the rest of the ride as the twins brought up another (random) topic.

.x.o.x.o.x.

By the time the trio had finally arrived at the school grounds, Haruhi had learned all about the trip the twins had taken to Paris for their mother's fashion show last year, how they had vacationed in Egypt for three months when they were thirteen, and how – for their sixth birthday – they had rented out an entire theme park for a day.

Haruhi had indulged the twins, or – rather – was forced to indulge the twins, in stories about her childhood and junior high experience. When they had asked her if she had any close friends growing up, she had merely replied that there were none that were close enough for her to stay in contact with after enrolling in Ouran. The twins appeared satisfied with the answer, and Haruhi decided against questioning their content moods.

The driver opened the limousine door, allowing the three to emerge from the vehicle. Kaoru let himself out first before turning around to offer a hand in assistance to Haruhi, but she had already exited the automobile and was patiently waiting at his side for the eldest Hitachiin twin.

Hikaru took Kaoru's extended hand, commenting with a starry-gaze, "Kaoru, such small gestures of your affection allow me know the depths of your love for me."

"Save it for your customers."

Kaoru, Haruhi, and Hikaru whipped their heads to the side in order to meet the gaze of Kyoya Ootori, the vice president of the Host Club. The dark-haired boy stood with a leather-bound notebook propped against his arm. He looked as cool as ever in his dark tuxedo and plum-colored tie – as is to be expected of the club's designated 'cool type.'

"Kyoya-senpai," chorused the twins with a grin.

"Ootori-san," Haruhi stated, acknowledging the Shadow King.

"Fujioka-san," the bespectacled boy stated, "I suppose the twins have yet to inform you of your role in tonight's event."

"As a matter of fact, they have not," Haruhi replied, tilting her head to gaze at the boy on her right: Hikaru.

The two shrugged their shoulders and responded, "Seems to have slipped our minds."

"It wouldn't be the first time that important information has succumbed to such a fate," the third son of the Ootori family commented, "however, I had prepared for such an occurrence and made the instructions as simple as possible for you. You are to head to the senior wing, classroom 4-C, in order to meet with Suzushima Tohru. From there, you will initiate the plan."

"What plan are you talking about, exactly?" Haruhi inquired.

"To make Suzu-chan and Kana-chan get back together!" Mitsukini Haninozuka exclaimed as he entered the scene, followed by a stoic Takashi Morinozuka.

"Thank you, Hunny-senpai," Kyoya added before jotting something down in his notebook.

"My friends, my friends! What purpose do you have for lurking in the chill night air?"

"My lord," the twins chorused in greeting as the entire club turned to face the Host Club King.

He ignored their greeting; instead, he decided to rush to Haruhi's side, snatching up her hand and placing a soft kiss against the warm skin.

"Haruhi-hime, you are indeed a sight to behold! Not even the greatest artist would be able to do such beauty justice. You shine brighter than the sun on a warm, summer day!"

"Are you implying that I'm blinding you?" Haruhi inquired; the flowery words were wasted on her.

"Not very smooth, my lord," Hikaru commented.

"He seems to be losing his touch, doesn't he, Hikaru?" Kaoru asked.

"Yeah," Hikaru said, nodding his head in agreement, "insulting poor Haruhi like that."

Kaoru shook his head with mock-disappointment.

The violet-eyed boy was practically in tears, having moved away to grow mushrooms against a nearby wall.

"Lest you have all forgotten," Kyoya interrupted as if he were breaking up a quarrel amongst children, "the party shall be starting in less than five minutes. Fujioka-san, please head to room 4-C to begin stage one of the plan."

Haruhi nodded her head and left the Host Club to their own devices. Perhaps, after her role in this 'plan' of theirs was over, she could enjoy the buffet without any disruptions.

.x.o.x.o.x.

Swinging her feet beneath her, Haruhi released a sigh. She had been waiting in the classroom for nearly an hour, and nothing had yet to happen. Perhaps Kyoya Ootori had sent her to the wrong room; he had said 4-C – she was sure of it – but Tohru Suzushima had yet to arrive.

The scholarship student was seated atop of one of the many desks in the classroom. She had chosen one nearest to the window in order to gaze out at the vast Ouran campus which was bathed in moonlight. Haruhi wondered if the Ootori boy had planned on having the dance party on a full moon, or if it was merely coincidence. If she had known him any better than the brief side comments that the twins had whispered to her, she wouldn't have bothered to guess at all, knowing full well that the Shadow King was extremely precise, and had indeed planned the event on such a wonderful night (in order to boost attendance and customer satisfaction, of course.)

Finally, there were audible footsteps coming from outside of the room, and Haruhi let her gaze move to the door. However, when the door opened, it was not Tohru Suzushima that had made his presence known.

"Hikaru," Haruhi said, "shouldn't you be downstairs with the other guests?"

Hikaru shrugged his shoulders, entirely used to the fact that the girl could tell him and his brother apart with her eyes closed if need be, "Thought you'd be bored. Kaoru and I had already known that this plan wasn't going to work."

Haruhi let her head tilt to the side, "What exactly is this plan anyways? I know it's to get Suzushima-kun and Kasugasaki-kun together, but how exactly is that going to happen, and why am I involved?"

Rubbing his head at her question, Hikaru explained, "Well, we – Kyoya, Kaoru, and I – wrote Suzushima a love note addressed from you, and he was supposedly going to reveal his true feelings for Kanako-chan to you as she walked in the room after receiving some words of – I wouldn't call it wisdom, but, if anything, my lord's pretty good at talking to girls. Well, anyways, my lord was supposed to talk to her, and she'd come and see Suzushima confessing his love for her to you and they'd fall for each other all over again."

"That plan seems extremely far-fetched. And you said Ootori-san planned this?"

"Well," Hikaru said with a grin, "Kyoya-senpai only has so much control over my lord, especially when my lord is intent on assisting 'the two birds of love in need of rekindling their dwindling flame of passion.'"

Haruhi smiled at the older twin's impression of the Host Club's king, "I suppose that scenario is much more believable than Ootori-san inventing the plan by himself."

Hikaru let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding as he stepped closer to where the girl was sitting.

"Is the food good?" Haruhi inquired. Any other girl would have asked, "How's the dance going?" or "Are you enjoying yourself?" but Haruhi was more straightforward than any other girl Hikaru had ever encountered. In addition, she also seemed to possess a fondness for food.

"I wouldn't know – haven't had the chance to sample any," Hikaru replied, sitting on the desk next to her. He couldn't help but think how nice it was to be alone with the pretty chocolate-eyed girl who was dressed in a very flattering ensemble that both he and his brother had designed.

"I wonder if there is fatty tuna," Haruhi mused aloud, "or maybe freshly-picked strawberries. Oh, tiramisu would be lovely as well."

"Fatty tuna?" Hikaru repeated as if he hadn't heard her correctly.

"Mmhmm," Haruhi confirmed; her desires suddenly jumping to pinwheel steak.

"You are so deprived," Hikaru stated, shaking his head.

If the girl had not been listing off gourmet dishes in her head, she would have been slightly offended; however, what did manage to capture her (and Hikaru's) attention was the sound of heavy footsteps making their way towards the classroom.

Hikaru's eyes widened and Haruhi swore she heard him say something obscene. The older twin jumped off of the desk and ran behind the teacher's station, situated at the front of the room. He had barely squeezed himself under the wooden desk before the door to 4-C opened, and in stepped the boy from yesterday.

"Excuse me," Tohru Suzushima called out as he looked around the dark classroom. His eyes finally landed on the lone girl seated upon the corner desk. She had long, dark hair and wide, chocolate-colored orbs. Even in the dark, he could tell she was both very lovely and very familiar.

"You're that girl from before – the one at the Host Club," Tohru pointed out as Haruhi tilted her head to the side, "I didn't really think you were the type of girl who'd write this type of letter – let alone be interested in a guy like me." As he said this, he held up the letter that she had 'written' in his hand.

"I didn't think so either," Haruhi replied bluntly. Hikaru tried not to laugh at the mental image of the boy's reaction.

Tohru looked a bit taken aback, but smiled, "Even though I think you're very pretty," Haruhi didn't look fazed by his flattery, but under the teacher's desk, Hikaru was seething at the older boy's words, "I doubt it would work out between us."

Haruhi waited for him to continue.

"You see," he explained, deciding it was necessary to tell the girl who had written such a love-filled letter the true reason as to why he couldn't accept her feelings, "there's another girl. And even though I really do love her, she deserves better. I'm to study abroad soon; I want to see the world and, in the process, become a better man for her."

Haruhi nodded her head

"I know it sounds selfish, but," Tohru sighed, "I wish she'd wait for me. I wish she'd be there for me when I return."

Haruhi looked at the older boy, "That does sound selfish."

Tohru Suzushima felt an arrow pierce through his back at her blunt comment.

"She doesn't even know how you feel, and you expect her to wait for you even when you're gone? Although your intentions may be good, what you're really doing is causing her pain."

The boy let out a frustrated sigh, "I'm always messing things up. I don't deserve a girl like her."

Haruhi felt a bit sorry for the boy, "Don't you think she should be able to decide that for herself?"

"It's too late for that now," Tohru Suzushima stated in a frustrated tone, dropping his head.

"No," a feminine voice called from the doorway, "it's not."

"Kanako..."

"Tohru-kun," Kanako Kasugasaki said as she entered into the classroom.

"I'm sorry, Kanako –"

Kanako raised her index finger to her lips, hushing the tall boy.

"I thought you hated me. I thought you were trying to push me out of your life. You didn't even include me in your decision to study abroad even though I'm your bride."

"Kanako, let me explain –"

"Please wait a moment, Tohru-kun."

Tohru Suzushima nodded his head solemnly and allowed her to continue speaking.

"I had a talk with someone I can consider a very good friend," she said, "and I realized something. I realized that I was being selfish. I was ignoring you by filling my life with false affections from boys that weren't you. However," she inhaled slightly, "you were being selfish too. You should have told me how you felt. I don't want any other boy. I want you, Tohru-kun."

Tohru felt his heart beat wildly at her declaration, "Kanako."

Kanako rushed into his arms, embracing him for all she was worth.

Haruhi blinked at the two from her some-what dazed stupor before letting her features soften into a kind and understanding smile. Perhaps that idiot Host Club king wasn't so much of an idiot after all.

She strolled over to the teacher's station where Hikaru was crawling out from under the wooden desk. He was looking at her with wide eyes.

Hikaru couldn't help but feel his stop heart as he took in the image of the girl in front of him. Her smile was so genuine and serene, and she looked utterly breathtaking with the moonlight reflecting off of her skin.

Before the prankster could speak, Haruhi shushed him in the same manner she had seen Kanako use on the boy. She then directed Hikaru to follow her out the door.

Her companion nodded and trailed behind the girl until they were out of the room. Hikaru silently closed the door behind them with a grin on his face.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Ladies, our beautiful night together has come to an end... I would like to dedicate our last waltz to this couple."

Kanako Kasugasaki and Tohru Suzushima gazed up at the violet-eyed boy standing before them on the terrace. The rest of the Host Club members, including the pretty girl that Tohru had encountered in the classroom, flanked his sides with wide smiles.

The rest of the girls in attendance stood behind the Host Club, cooing in delight and clapping their hands encouragingly as Tohru extended his hand towards the girl in front of him.

"Would you honor me with a dance?"

Kanako nodded her head in pure delight as she allowed herself to be swept into a graceful waltz with her betrothed.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"I didn't get to eat anything," Haruhi stated pointedly.

"But you were able to bring Kanako-chan and Suzushima together."

"I didn't get to eat anything, though" Haruhi repeated, as if her words had not been fully comprehended the first time.

"We'll have the cooks make you something when we get to the mansion," Kaoru amended.

Haruhi tried not to sulk, but such a thing was proving to be very difficult. Especially after she had wasted her entire night (more or less) alone in an empty classroom.

She looked at Hikaru who was gazing at the passing scenery with a blank expression.

"Hikaru?" she called softly.

The older twin gazed at the girl he had been thinking about ever since they had left the classroom with a thoughtful expression.

"Something the matter, Hikaru?" Kaoru inquired in a curious tone.

"Just thinking," Hikaru responded before draping an arm across Haruhi's shoulders in reassurance.

Kaoru shrugged his shoulders and rested his cheek against Haruhi's, suddenly feeling extremely exhausted from the night's events.

"Tomorrow's physical examinations at school," Kaoru informed the two with a yawn.

However, the girl positioned between the brothers had already drifted off to sleep. The two were quick to follow her example.

.x.o.x.o.x.

When the limousine finally arrived at the Hitachiin Estate, Mrs. Hitachiin was the first at the scene.

The driver opened the vehicle's door for the woman, and she smiled at the sight before her.

Snapping a quick picture of the sleeping trio, the fashion designer decided that she would get it framed first thing in the morning. After all, her office, the family room, her best friend, her mother, and the album she was starting up required some new pictures of the boys.

* * *

Oh wow, it's been a long time -- sorry, guys. Hope you enjoyed the chapter!


	10. Chapter 10

Haruhi had always been a levelheaded girl. She had never overreacted when awkward situations presented themselves, and she had never been the typical shoujo-manga heroine. Lately, Haruhi noticed, she'd been a part of more awkward situations than ever before. Actually, there had been countless occurrences that would never have happened to her in the past, but unusual things tended to present themselves ever since the two devilishly handsome twins declared themselves as her "best friends forever."

Monday morning seemed to have rolled around faster than expected (or anticipated), but as the sun rises, so does Haruhi Fujioka. Except, something was off about the girl's early-morning routine. When the two, wide brown eyes finally opened, the unfamiliar area that the owner of the eyes found herself in was completely unexpected.

"Ah," Haruhi finally recalled to herself, hitting a fisted hand against her open palm, all-the-while looking across the vast room with a thoughtful expression.

Having decided that the room she was in was far too vast and far too incredible to be her own, and since she has always been too much of a realist to believe that such a place was a dream, the scholarship student concluded that she was (of course, why didn't she think of it before?) in the Hitachiin mansion.

Or, at least, she hoped she was in the Hitachiin mansion for it'd be highly awkward to wake up inside another rich person's home. Say, perhaps, Kyoya Ootori's?

Shivering at such a thought, Haruhi decided to slide out of the comfortable bed and onto the cool, marble floor, all-the-while wondering as to why rich people didn't bother with carpet. It was so much more convenient in the morning; however, from further examination of the rich people she had encountered thus far (and being at one of the richest schools in Japan, she had met a lot,) Haruhi had decided that rich people didn't believe in "convenience."

Turning back towards the bed, as she had always done at home, the long-haired girl decided to make the bed look just as presentable as it had previously been before she had intruded upon in. Finally, after fluffing the pillows to satisfaction, she gazed around the vast room and fell into thought.

"Now, what am I to do about a uniform?" Haruhi mused to herself as she looked around the room. After all, she did have school today, but she didn't know how to go about requesting transportation back to her apartment.

"Oh," a voice called from the door which Haruhi hadn't even noticed was slightly ajar, "Fujioka-san is up so early."

"Eh?" Haruhi inquired, blinking at the maid that had popped her head through the door before bustling into the room. In her arms, she carried the Ouran uniform: an easy identification due to its unique, pastel color. Haruhi briefly wondered if the Hitachiin Household's employees were equipped with super-powered hearing.

"Hitachiin-sama instructed me to place this in your room, but I had no idea Fujioka-san would wake up so early!" the maid exclaimed, heading for the bed that the girl had woken up in.

"Is Hitachiin-san already awake?" the scholarship student inquired, watching the maid's eyes widen at the already-made bed. The maid shook her head as if she was merely ridding her mind of an illusion before carefully placing the uniform on top of the expensive sheets.

"Hitachiin-sama had to take her leave very early in the morning. There is a photo shoot in Brazil that she must attend today," the woman explained, "and a fashion show in New York that she must be present for tomorrow. Hitachiin-sama should be back after that."

"I see," Haruhi murmured aloud, and then bowed to the room's other occupant, "thank you very much for bringing me the uniform."

The maid blushed at the girl's humbled position, but nodded her head quickly and scrambled out of the room to leave the girl to change.

Haruhi turned back towards the bed, and picked up the neatly-folded uniform. It was brand new; the scent and feel of it practically screamed 'just-delivered.'

Deciding that she might as well wear the uniform even though it wasn't necessarily hers, the girl slipped out of the dress that she had been wearing since the previous night. She was grateful that nobody – especially the twins – had attempted to undress her while she was sleeping. While the girl could deal with the discomfort of wearing a dress to sleep, she doubted that she could suffer through the humiliation that the twins would undoubtedly harass her with for the rest of her life.

The scholarship student could already imagine the situation as she finished dressing herself.

"Haruuuuhi," two voices whined simultaneously from the doorway.

Turning to gaze at the disgruntled twins, she realized that they must have just woken up. After all, she had never seen them with such disheveled appearances before.

"I don't see why my lord didn't just host the dance party on Saturday night," Hikaru groaned, walking over to the bed she had slept in He collapsed on top of it, ruining the already-made bedding.

"Because he's an idiot," Kaoru suggested before joining his brother on the bed, ruining the sheets even more.

"If you two were just going to wake up to go back to sleep, what was the point of getting up to begin with?" Haruhi asked as she gazed at the two brothers who were already dozing off once more.

"We told the maids to wake us up when you were awake," Kaoru explained.

Hikaru yawned and stretched his long limbs across the sheets, messing up the job that Haruhi had done of making the bed look presentable, "But obviously, that was a bad idea, eh?"

The twins grinned sleepily at her.

"We shouldn't even go to school today," Hikaru said.

"After all, it's not every day we get to have Haruhi all to ourselves," Kaoru added with a sly smirk.

Haruhi narrowed her eyes at them, greatly disagreeing with the younger twin's comment.

"Besides, it's not like we have anything important going on at school today. Just physical examinations."

"Eh, my lord would be greatly displeased if we were to miss that."

"He'd probably be too busy crying over Haruhi's absence to acknowledge our own."

"But Kyoya-senpai..." Hikaru trailed off.

The twins looked at each other and gulped.

Hikaru clapped his hands, and the twin maids that Haruhi had already become familiarized with entered the room with the Ouran uniforms in hand. In the same manner as the woman who had brought the uniform to Haruhi, the maids merely placed the uniforms on the bed next to the brother's sprawled out bodies and left the room without a word.

"You don't mind if we change in here, do you?" Hikaru asked slyly, "we had planned on joining you and all..."

"But you changed too fast," Kaoru finished off, propping himself against his brother.

Haruhi shrugged her shoulders, "Have it your way."

The twins blushed at her comment and quickly waved their hands as if to wave away the conversation, "Ne, Haruhi, we were just kidding."

"What?" Haruhi inquired, "You two don't want to change?"

Their faces turned as dark as Ritsu Kasanoda's hair at her comment.

Kaoru, always the more sensible of the two twins, finally managed to sputter, "We meant that we don't want you to watch us change."

"Why would I want to watch you two change?" Haruhi inquired in a dull tone, "I was just about to leave."

"Oh," the twins blinked at her departing figure.

"I'll be waiting outside," Haruhi concluded before exiting the room and shutting the door behind her.

"Hey!" Hikaru yelled at the door, "what's wrong with watching us change?"

Kaoru shook his head at his brother's antics and slipped off his shirt. Sometimes, he thought he was the only sane one amongst them.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"You know, Haruhi," Hikaru said, slinging his arm across the girl's shoulders as they entered into the north wing's foyer, "we can leave as soon as we're done with the examination. The day is specifically reserved for physical examinations alone."

"What about club activities?" Haruhi asked, "Wouldn't you two have to stay for the Host Club?"

"Well technically," Kaoru explained with a wink, "we'll already be involved in club activities."

"Physical examinations makes Kyoya-senpai's heart go doki-doki," Hikaru teased, sticking his fingers up and rocking side-to-side.

"But everyone knows he loves taking our pictures for our bodies rather than for the profit," the twins chimed confidently as they grinned at the girl who walked between them.

"Ahem."

The three freshmen stopped where they were. Turning to their left, they spotted Kyoya Ootori standing against the wall with the rest of the Host Club members.

Kaoru and Hikaru immediately shut up while Haruhi attempted to ward off the evil aura that the boy in front of them was radiating.

"Hitachiin twins," the raven-haired boy greeted with false cheer, "I'd like to remind you two that I am aware as to where you live, the security restrictions of your mansion, and the hours of which you two are asleep. And, let me tell you now that the club would be deeply saddened if anything ... unfortunate were to happen to its members."

The twins gulped and backed up to cower behind their female companion.

"Ah, Fujioka-san," Kyoya Ootori turned on her with a pleasantly fake smile, "the Host Club would like to extend its thanks to you for your participation in last night's event."

Haruhi couldn't decide as to whether she should go running for the exit or if she should just play along.

"You're welcome," Haruhi replied, having chosen the latter.

"Our profits have increased by three-point-two percent due to the plan's success," Kyoya said with a small glint bouncing across his glasses, "after all, we strive to make the young ladies of this school happy by making their dreams come true."

The girl wondered if he had this memorized.

"For we, the Host Club, a group of handsome men with too much time on our hands, would rather dedicate our time to those young beautiful ladies who also have time," Tamaki interrupted.

"And money," Kyoya contributed.

Tamaki glanced at his dark-haired friend and shrugged, "as I was saying – we, the Host Club, exist solely to serve the beautiful young ladies of this campus."

Haruhi stared blankly at the two of them and nodded her head, "I know."

"My lord is boring our toy," Hikaru stated, pulling the girl against his body.

"Anyways, let's get this over with. We want to go have an early lunch date with Haruhi," Kaoru added, walking with his brother and the girl towards the campus' on-site medical facility (a generous contribution made by the Ootori family.)

"What?! I demand an invitation to this 'lunch date'!" Tamaki shouted from behind the three freshmen, but the twins and Haruhi had already tuned out the Host Club president.

Entering into the medical facility, Haruhi decided, felt like entering into the third music room after school.

Maybe it was the unfathomable amount of doctors and nurses lined up against the walls, greeting students like royalty as they made their entrance. Perhaps it was the girls squealing with delight as they caught sight of the Host Club members entering the room. It might have even been the fact that the event did not seem anything like a physical examination, but rather an elaborate prank that someone was pulling on her to prevent her from learning about the human anatomy and the study of the ancient Greeks.

Whatever it was, Haruhi finally realized what the twins had meant by the physical examinations being a part of their club activities. It really was rather difficult to miss the multiple camera men sporting Ootori-labeled vests and the variety of equipment fit for any professional photo shoot.

"Hitachiin-sama," a nurse said to Hikaru, "if you and your brother would follow me this way, you two can undress in separate rooms."

"No need," Hikaru replied, easily slipping into his 'homosexual-for-my-brother' act. He began to remove his shirt, but Kaoru was just as quick to jump into his role.

"Hikaru!" Kaoru scolded, grabbing hold of his twin's hands.

"What's wrong, Kaoru?" Hikaru asked in a husky tone.

"Are you trying to make your dear brother jealous?" Kaoru asked with tear-filled eyes before continuing in an audible whisper that sent the ladies swooning, "I thought you promised that only I would be able to see you undress."

If only Kaoru's words were true, Haruhi thought to herself amidst the sighs and squeals from the girls surrounding the twins. The loud thumps that erupted around the room easily signified a 'moe overdose' as several of the Host Club's fan girls happily fainted to the floor.

Haruhi heaved an exasperated sigh, somewhat used to the scenario. After all, the twins had made her attend practically every club meeting since she met them. They were monopolizing her time and, in the process, isolating her from the rest of their classmates.

Ritsu Kasanoda, the boy who had once eaten lunch with her and had even walked her home (or at least to the store,) had stopped trying to approach her. She wondered how the redhead was doing, and if he had taken any more injured animals into his care.

The girl really did think that the Kasanoda-group heir would make a good veterinarian.

"Excuse me, miss," a nurse said to her, interrupting the scholarship student's inner musings, "will you please follow me?"

Figuring that she might as well get this done with sooner than later, Haruhi followed the woman. The twins were a bit too occupied with the Host Club's fan club and the photographers to notice their toy's departure.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Sorry for the long wait, miss," the nurse said as they rounded another corner, "there are so many students at this time, but thankfully, there was a private room open."

"It's really no problem," Haruhi assured the woman with a kind smile, "I'm just glad that I was able to escape from the chaotic scene in the main room."

"Oh?" the nurse asked with a delighted chuckle, "those handsome young boys always attract so much attention."

"They do," Haruhi confirmed, hunching her shoulders and looking at the floor in defeat. The club members seemed to plague her very existence; the topic of them even entered into conversations with complete strangers.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Where's Haruhi?" Kaoru asked his twin as he finished buttoning up his shirt. After the photographers had taken enough pictures to fill a magazine, the twins had decided to put an end to their charade. A bit disappointed, the girls had swept over to gaze upon the Host Club president's well-toned body.

"Huh?" Hikaru inquired, looking around for their brunette-haired friend.

"Now that I mention it, I haven't seen her since we started our act."

"All of those girls were in the way," Hikaru growled, suddenly angry at the swarm of girls that had surrounded both of them only minutes prior to their conversation.

"Well, I guess we should go find her," Kaoru suggested with a smile in an attempt to ease his twin's temper.

"Yeah, but how troublesome," Hikaru said, placing his hands behind his neck and gazing up at the ceiling.

"Alright, let's go check-"

Kaoru was interrupted by a girl's shriek, "EEEEK! PERVERT!"

"What's going on over there?" the twins inquired aloud before running over to the source of the commotion.

When they turned the corner to see a girl cowered against the wall with a nurse trying to help her up, the brothers looked on with confused expression.

"Th – there was a m – ma – man," the girl said in a shaky voice, "I thought he was a doctor, but he grabbed me! I thought he was going to do something lewd. I was so scared!"

The girl collapsed into a helpless mess, but not before pointing down the hall, "I saw him run down towards the private rooms."

Hikaru and Kaoru immediately sprung into action. If Haruhi was in one of the private rooms, the sexual predator might locate her. Even if she wasn't in one of the rooms, ignoring the issue was not a chance that the brothers wished to take.

"Haruhi!" the twins shouted as they split up, kicking down doors in an attempt to locate their misplaced toy.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Thank you," Haruhi bowed to the woman in front of her with a kind smile. The doctor smiled at her before flipping through her notebook.

"Have a nice day, Fujioka-san."

The girl nodded her head in agreement before taking leave of the room. The woman, Dr. Jun, had been surprisingly kind. Haruhi, having never needed to visit the infirmary before, had never even seen the woman on the vast campus, but she was glad that she finally had.

Before she had even completely closed the door to the private room behind her, a pair of arms had already engulfed her figure, causing the girl's eyes to widen in surprise.

"Haruhi!" Hikaru cried out in relief as he let his head rest on her shoulder. She gazed at him from the corner of her eye, wondering what was going on.

"Kaoru and I," Hikaru panted, "thought the pervert got you."

"What pervert?" Haruhi asked curiously, turning around to face the tall boy, "I just had my physical examination."

"Oh," Hikaru said, "so you didn't know that there was a pervert on campus?"

"No."

"He attacked some girl," Hikaru explained, "so when Kaoru and I couldn't find you..."

Haruhi shook her head and smiled at him, "It's alright, I'm fine."

Hikaru blushed at her expression and quickly turned around so his back was facing her.

"Kaoru!" Hikaru called out, "I found Haruhi!"

A few moments later, the younger twin popped his head out of the doorway from across the hall and a few doors down. He waved both his brother and the girl over.

"What's going on?" Hikaru asked, sticking his hands into his pockets.

"Kyoya-senpai located the pervert after checking the surveillance cameras, but my lord discovered that the guy wasn't really a pervert. He was just looking for his daughter. She doesn't even go to this school," Kaoru said with a laugh, "she goes to some public high school."

From what Kaoru had just said, Haruhi concluded that the man didn't sound like a very good father.

"Whatever," Hikaru stated grumpily, "let's just go get something to eat."

"Yeah," Kaoru nodded in agreement, "how about we go eat at that Italian restaurant?"

"The one in Sicily?" Hikaru asked.

"Nah, the one in San Fransisco," Kaoru replied, "you know, the one with the really good spaghetti?"

"By the time you reach either of those locations," Haruhi said, "lunchtime would be long gone."

"Aw," the twins complained, "Haruhi's such a mood-killer."

"And after we went through all of that hassle to rescue her from the pervert," Hikaru joked.

Haruhi rolled her eyes, but the twins wrapped their arms around her small frame, effectively trapping her between them.

"How about Haruhi cooks for us?"

"Yeah," Hikaru said with a grin, "I like that idea."

"No thanks," Haruhi said dully, "besides, I need to go home."

"You could cook for us since you're going home anyways," Kaoru contributed.

"Why do you need to go home?" Hikaru asked.

"I haven't taken a shower since yesterday, and neither have you two," Haruhi said, even though neither of the brothers possessed an offensive odor. On the contrary, the twins smelled rather nice.

"Can we join?" the twins asked slyly.

"No," Haruhi deadpanned.

"Fine," the twins added with pouts.

"How about pizza?" the twins amended.

Contemplating the idea, Haruhi finally gave in, "But neither of you can come within two feet of the bathroom while I'm taking a shower."

"Fine," the twins conceded.

"And you can't go into my closet either," she added as an afterthought.

"So unfair!" the twins groaned.

* * *

I did the worse proof-reading job on this. Sorry if you spot more mistakes than usual. Happy New Year! 


	11. Chapter 11

It had been nearly a month since physical examinations had taken place, and the time had quickly passed by without too much trouble arising. Sure, there had been tests and quizzes here and there, but Haruhi Fujioka had managed to ace every single exam and pop quiz thrown in her direction with flying colors. Being the only scholarship student in the school meant that she had to constantly focus on maintaining the highest score in the class. One could only assume that it was a difficult task to do, and, in addition to her duty, the two rather distracting Hitachiin twins tended to occupy every second of her life as they clung to her desperately like drowning men – or, at least, like children to their favorite toy.

If one were to ask the twins for a reason as to why they flanked Haruhi Fujioka's sides whenever humanly possible, they would merely claim it was for exactly that reason: "she's our toy!"

It was a well-known piece of information that everyone in the school was aware of – some more painfully than others; amongst them were Ritsu Kasanoda and Tamaki Suoh.

After two weeks of absolutely nothing extremely troublesome occurring, Haruhi was beginning to wonder as to whether her school life was finally starting to balance out.

She couldn't have been more wrong.

It was Monday afternoon. Classes had ended for the day, club activities had commenced, and Haruhi had finally finished her math homework. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred thus far, and Haruhi hoped it would remain that way.

The Host Club had decided to celebrate New Years on that particular day, and each member donned a kimono that Mrs. Hitachiin had designed. The fashion designer had also slipped in a pink kimono for Haruhi, making her sons promise beforehand that they would take a few pictures together in their holiday garb to add to her ever-growing scrapbook.

As usual, Kyoya Ootori, the 'cool-type' of the Host Club, was making his rounds, asking customers questions ranging from whether or not the tea was good, would they like to place an order on a Hitachiin-design kimono, and were they willing to RSVP for the Host Club's upcoming tea party.

Unfortunately, Haruhi's day was about to go downhill from there.

"Haruhi," Hikaru said, wrapping his arms around her neck from behind. He dropped his head onto her kimono-clad shoulder and glanced at what she was working on.

"Why are you starting on that essay so soon?" the elder twin questioned in a dull tone.

"I already finished the homework that's due tomorrow," Haruhi replied while flipping through the textbook she had borrowed from the library.

"But the essay isn't even due until next week," he retorted.

"It's better to finish things early so I don't have to worry about them later."

"I don't think you're human," Hikaru said, grabbing a few strands of her hair and checking for split ends.

Haruhi, who had become oh-so accustomed to the twin's behavior, merely scratched out a word that she had misspelled and continued writing.

"I sneak away for a few moments to spend time with my toy, and you haven't even turned around once."

Haruhi turned around to face him with a less-than-amused expression.

"Where's Kaoru?" she asked, realizing that the younger twin was no longer present.

"Bathroom," Hikaru replied, grabbing a few more long strands of her hair since he had lost the previous ones when she had turned around.

"Why aren't you with your clients?" Haruhi inquired. There was still a group of three girls huddled around the table, but they seemed content chatting with themselves despite the twin's absence.

Hikaru shrugged, "They don't come for Hikaru. They come for _Hikaru-and-Kaoru_. Actually, they think it's Hikaru who's in the bathroom right now."

"I can't imagine how they could mistake the two of you," the scholarship student replied, "both of you are so different from one another."

"Like I said," Hikaru repeated with a grin, "I don't think you're human."

Haruhi shook her head. Noticing the younger Hitachiin had finally returned to the room, she pointed out his arrival to her companion.

"Eh," Hikaru said with a mock sigh, "I guess it's time to get back to work. Not like you care."

"I do care," Haruhi replied, turning around to face her paper, "it means that I can actually concentrate on my work."

"You know, you're making it really hard to leave."

"Sorry," she replied honestly while picking up her pen, "I don't want to distract you from your customers."

"How about you sit in with Kaoru and me?" Hikaru asked before she could start writing again.

"Huh?" Haruhi inquired, turning around to face him again.

"Let us host you," Hikaru explained.

"I'll pass. I already spend enough time with you and Kaoru as it is, and I really should get as much of this essay done as possible."

Although she had declined, the elder Hitachiin twin was not about to take no for an answer. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, Hikaru kicked her chair back and swept her up into his arms.

"What are you doing?" she asked dully as she looked up into his eyes. He could have applauded her for remaining so straight-faced despite how he had just literally swept her off of her feet.

"I'm going to host you," Hikaru replied, walking over to the table where his brother was waiting with a curious expression.

"Why? I don't need to see you act incestuous with your brother."

With a mischievous grin, Hikaru placed her into the empty chair alongside the rest of the girls that had designated him and his brother that afternoon.

"Hello ladies," Hikaru said with a devilish smile, "sorry for the wait. As you can see, we have a new arrival: Fujioka Haruhi of class 1-A."

The girls at the table smiled at her kindly.

"Nice to meet you," Haruhi said, bowing her head politely in reply. She quickly glanced at Hikaru with an annoyed expression when the girls had finally turned away from her. He replied with a grin.

"So where were we before Hikaru had to go to the bathroom?" Hikaru asked. Haruhi assumed they were switching roles again, but kept quiet because of the wink that the elder twin directed at her.

"Kaoru-sama was telling us about the trip Hikara-sama and Kaoru-sama took to Africa for New Years," the girl furthest away from Haruhi replied.

"Ah," Hikaru, posing as Kaoru, exclaimed, "Africa!"

Kaoru smiled at their audience, "We went on a tour of the safari during the day, and then we spent the night -"

"Hikaru!" Hikaru cried out, blushing from his brother's words, "it's too embarrassing! I mean, we were only eight…"

"Oooh!" the girls (minus Haruhi) squealed, "What happened?"

Hikaru bit his lip and turned his head to the side to glance away from his twin.

"I told Kaoru that the lions roamed the hotel grounds and that they might sneak in and try to eat him when he was asleep. He wouldn't even go to the bathroom in the middle of the night without waking me up. We slept together so we could scare the lions off if they tried to attack," Kaoru explained.

Hikaru smiled fondly at his twin, "Hikaru kept me safe."

"I was selfish. What I really wanted was for you to stay close to me," Kaoru replied, tilting his twin's chin up to look him in the eyes.

The fan-girls, hooked on the scene, cried out, "Moe! Moe!"

Haruhi wondered if she should drop by the supermarket before heading home; there was a sale on fish and she had a few coupons for various items.

Hikaru glanced at Haruhi to see her expression, but then felt his face drop at the sight of her lack-of-interest. The girl hadn't even so much as blinked throughout the entire act.

Feeling his face slip, Hikaru settled back into his seat, ignoring the confused expression that his brother had fixated on him.

The twins went on to talk about their upcoming trip to California. Mrs. Hitachiin had a fashion show in Los Angeles, and then they planned to spend the remainder of the day touring the studios in Hollywood.

"I heard the weather's quite nice in California," the girl next to Haruhi said.

"It is," the twins chimed.

Haruhi checked the time on her watch – still over half an hour to go.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Haruhi and every other person in the clubroom turned to face the source of the commotion.

"Eh, my lord just got rejected by a girl!" Hikaru exclaimed as the girl continued to point out each and every flaw in Tamaki's 'princely' character.

Haruhi gazed at the ranting female that had just ruined her two weeks of (somewhat) peaceful tranquility. She did not appear to be of Japanese origin, but her accent had already given that away. She was wearing the female school uniform, so Haruhi could only safely assume that she was, indeed, an Ouran student.

"You're the worst!" the girl finally exclaimed as Tamaki fell limply to the ground; it was as if his spirit had just been knocked out of him.

Haruhi watched Kyoya Ootori enter the scene, murmuring something that she couldn't hear due to the distance that separated them.

"Fiancé-sama!" the girl cried out in joy as she ran into the raven-haired boy's arms, "I wanted to see you so badly."

Kyoya looked befuddled by the sudden turn of events as he gazed down at the girl latched onto his center.

"Fiancé?" the club members repeated.

.x.o.x.o.x.

The clients had been dismissed for the afternoon. Kyoya Ootori had politely bid them goodbye with a charmingly fake smile on his face, stating that the club had some urgent business to attend to. The girls, albeit a bit disappointed, were quick to leave when they saw how depressed the club's president was; they would hate to burden the charming blonde with their presence, especially when he had been practically attacked by that rude girl's words.

"Feel better soon, Tamaki-sama!" the girls had said, waving to the distraught blonde who sat weeping in the corner. They shot a few more glares at the girl that had caused their prince so much pain before finally exiting through the doorway of the third music room.

Takashi Morinozuka shut the door behind them before reclaiming his spot next to his cousin, Mitsukini Haninozuka.

"Why am I here still?" Haruhi whispered from her position between the twins.

"Moral support?" the twins suggested wryly.

Haruhi felt her eyes slant at their answer.

"You're Kyoya's fiancé?" Hunny inquired curiously; the Host Club (Haruhi included) stood across from the seated girl.

"Yes," she replied with a smile, "I'm Houshakuji Renge, and I'll be in grade ten, class A starting tomorrow."

The members glanced at the distraught prince who was still sulking in the corner; his best friend had failed to tell him about his future wife.

"We're not engaged," Kyoya had already assured him; however, the blonde was too lost in his own misery to acknowledge the raven-haired boy's words.

Renge continued with her speech while ignoring the club member's disbelieving expressions, "It was love at first sight. He was affectionate to backyard plants that nobody else paid attention to, and he kindly stretched out his hand to the injured kitten…"

Haruhi felt both twins lean their weight against her; they were shaking so much from their bottled-up laughter.

Hikaru was the first to finally ask, "Are you sure you have the right person?"

The girl, as if a switch had been flipped, launched into another passionate rant. She concluded by pointing at Kyoya, proclaiming, "You, who looks like Ichijo Miyabi-kun from _Uki Doki Memorial_!"

The twins quickly took a step back, dragging Haruhi along with them.

"Otaku!" the club members fearfully exclaimed in unison.

"I see," Kyoya Ootori said, finally comprehending the situation, "a girl with a lot of interest in characters. She replaces me with her favorite character, Miyabi-kun, and makes me her fiancé. Then, she proceeds to get lost in her wildest fantasies. That sums it up."

Tamaki looked at his supposed closest companion, "Wait, you're not engaged?"

Kyoya adjusted his glasses by pushing them further up his nose, "No, (you idiot), that's what I've been telling you. I haven't affirmed the fact even once."

However, not one to be deterred, Renge launched into the flattery technique, "From the reports, I see that Kyoya-sama is the one who manages everything in the club."

Hunny nodded excitedly, "Yes, Kyo-chan is the store manager."

"How exciting," the girl squealed in delight, "such a title suits him very well! I have always wanted to be a draw-girl for the store!"

"We don't need one," Hikaru piped up from Haruhi's right.

"This is a Host Club, not a bakery," Kaoru explained from the scholarship student's left.

"I've decided!" Renge exclaimed, "While preparing to be a bride, I will also be an administrative assistant for the Host Club!"

"She's not listening," the twins sighed in defeat.

"Ehm, Kyoya," Tamaki said, as if to persuade the 'cool-type' to dissuade the girl from interfering with their club's affairs.

"She's the daughter of one of the important business partners of my family," Kyoya explained with a charming smile.

For some reason, Haruhi felt her being become paralyzed with fear, and – wait, was that evil aura coming from Kyoya Ootori?

"So," the raven-haired boy said, turning to face the scholarship student, "please take care of her, Fujioka-san."

"Wait, why me?" Haruhi asked at the same time that the twins loudly protested, "Why her?"

"Because," Kyoya replied, "she's the only female in our club."

Haruhi stared at him with a confused expression, "When did I become a member of the Host Club?"

"On the same day that the twins signed the contract with me," he replied.

"What position is she, Kyo-chan?" Hunny innocently asked.

"Female-attire model," he replied.

Suddenly, her wearing the pink kimono made sense.

"We get funds for advertising different designer's outfits," Kyoya stated – so that's why they had club photo shoots! – "and having a female model makes it easier for the clients to decide whether or not they would like to order their own."

"Ah," the twins said as though they had contemplated his reasoning, "that makes sense to us. We approve!"

"Wait!" Haruhi was very annoyed at the sudden information, "I did not agree to this."

"What's done is done," Kyoya said dismissively before gathering up his book bag and taking his leave from the clubroom, "see you tomorrow."

"Wait for me, Kyoya-sama!" Renge exclaimed, chasing after him.

"So," Hikaru said with a suggestive grin, "since Haruhi is going to be wearing costumes when we have cosplay days, does that mean we should we get some measurements?"

"I believe that entitles us to another four hours with Haruhi," Kaoru added.

Donning identical, devilish smirks, the twins dragged the struggling Haruhi out of the third music room with plans of yellow measuring tape and frilly pastel-colored dresses from their mother's spring line in mind.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Haruhi-chan, Haruhi-chan," Renge exclaimed in delight as she held a bowl of cookie batter in hand, "should I put more sugar in the cream?"

"Ah, yes," Haruhi replied after a moment, "how is the chocolate?"

"Everything is going as planned," the transfer student stated, showing Haruhi her progress, "I'm melting the chocolate now."

Haruhi felt her eyes widen in shock as she finally realized how wrong the situation was, "Don't use the direct flame!"

Renge then proceeded to botch even more of Haruhi's (simple) instructions as she placed hot water into the bowl of chocolate. Haruhi could only watch on with a horror-stricken face.

The scholarship student must have been sadly misinformed because she had believed that her life would become suddenly easier without the constant presence of the Hitachiin twins looming over her shoulders. For the forty-three minutes that the two girls had been in the kitchen, bonding over the task of making cookies for Kyoya Ootori (under the insistence of Renge,) Haruhi had never felt so stressed in her entire life as she did at that exact moment.

Finally, after another ten minutes of botched instructions and failed attempts, Renge's fifth batch (attempt) had finished cooling.

Satisfied that the most recent batch of cookies that Renge had made were better than her other ones, Haruhi told the girl that they would end there. Haruhi gathered her ginger-flavored sweets into a small napkin-filled basket, all-the-while watching the girl across from her cheerfully place the burnt and slightly-deformed cookies that she had lovingly created onto a heart-shaped platter.

Renge made her way towards the door with a light bounce in her step, but paused before making her exit.

Haruhi looked up curiously to see what the problem was.

"You're too noisy, _fake king_," Renge stated through the open door. Haruhi could clearly see the eccentric blonde, Tamaki Suoh, behind it before he disappeared with a quick dash to the side.

Haruhi, deciding not to interfere with what she assumed was going to be World War III, continued to place the next batch of cookies onto her plate. Even though she had been distracted by giving Renge instructions on how to properly heat the oven, stir the batter, melt the chocolate, etcetera, she had still managed to make three successful batches of cookies of her own.

If the scholarship student had known that the situation would have turned out to be so bad, she would have just given the transfer student all of the cookies she made from the start.

The freshman heard panicked shouts coming from the hall, and quickly strode out of the kitchen with her cookies in hand.

"Renge-chan?" Haruhi inquired as she spotted the medusa-like appearance of her female companion.

The boys were standing against the wall, spitting out what Haruhi assumed to be the severely-burnt cookies that Renge had baked.

She was slightly curious as to how her own came out. Deciding to test the outcome of her work, Haruhi took a bite of one of the unsweetened ginger cookies that she had made.

Considering the fact she hadn't cooked sweets in a very long time, Haruhi thought they turned out pretty well. Since she lacked a sweet tooth, she had never had any reason in particular to make desserts for herself.

Hikaru appeared at her side a moment later, stepping closer to her. The elder twin tilted her head up before taking a bite off of the cookie that was already half way in her mouth.

Haruhi swallowed the rest of the cookie that had not been broken off by her classmate and stared at him with a dull expression, "What was that for?"

"I was getting rid of a bad taste," he said with a wild grin, "and it tasted pretty good. Maybe you should bake a cake for us next time?"

Kaoru, never one to be left out, appeared on her right and licked her cheek, claiming, "You have some cream on your face."

Haruhi rubbed at the spot where his tongue had lingered moments ago.

"Our toy should take better care of herself," the twins said.

"Kaoru," Haruhi chided, "I would have cleaned it myself if you had told me, and Hikaru, if you wanted a cookie, you could have just asked."

Tamaki looked on in jealous disbelief, wondering how the cute and innocent Haruhi could allow those two devils to touch her in such an indecent manner.

"EVERYONE'S CHARACTERISTICS ARE VERY BAD!"

Haruhi turned to face the raging transfer student. Her posture was very cool this time; she was positioned in such a manner that the club members felt glued to their spots, "All of you lack any negative aspects."

Haruhi wondered how that was a bad thing.

"Girls find that terribly dull; they are weak for beautiful men involved with trauma. Soon, they will become bored with your actions. Are you trying to make Kyoya-sama's store go bankrupt?"

Haruhi doubted that the term "bankrupt" was even included Kyoya Ootori's dictionary by the way he tracked the club's finances with an iron fist.

Pointing at each member of the Host Club, Renge assigned them their new characters.

"Mori-senpai wasn't even assigned a new role," Hikaru muttered afterwards, passing the basketball that Renge had thrown at him over to his twin.

"What has us being in the basketball club got anything to do with people not being able to tell the difference between us?" Kaoru asked as he positioned the ball against his hip.

"Well, at least Tamaki-senpai seems enthusiastic about his character change," Haruhi concluded as she watched the blonde practice his role as a lonely prince. Renge applauded his enthusiasm and excellent first attempt.

"Haruhi-chan," Renge said, turning to the girl with a kind smile, "since you're also a member of the Host Club, I'll give you a task to do as well!"

"Eh?" the scholarship student questioned, wondering why her week was continuously becoming progressively worse.

.x.o.x.o.x.

Tamaki had gone through over two-and-a-half boxes of tissue in less than twenty minutes in order to subdue his nosebleeds.

Haruhi wondered if her mother (bless her soul) was taking a break from watching over her in the heavens.

"You're so cute!" Renge squealed for the umpteenth time as she tugged Haruhi over to the side with her. They were watching Hunny and Mori perform a scene from Renge's first project as administrative assistant. She had referred to it as "Host Club: The Drama," but it seemed more like "Uki Doki Memorial Live Action."

Haruhi donned an outfit from Renge's own cosplay collection. It was a maid outfit, but it wasn't just that. The costume was actually a kitty-maid costume equipped with garters and a serving tray. Haruhi was in charge of serving drinks to the club members between casting breaks, and to the directors and camera men that requested it.

And, seeing as she was a pretty high school student dressed in kitty-maid cosplay, she had been running back and forth between the ever demanding twins that were becoming exceedingly annoyed at the younger staff members that continuously tried to hit on their toy and the playboy director that had been attempting to monopolize her time ever since the start of the filming.

"Haruhi-chan," Renge said, posing in her more-modest maid costume. Instead of cat ears, however, she donned a pair of bunny ears, "want to come over and play dating simulation games with me afterwards?"

"Dating simulation game?" Haruhi repeated. She'd take the twins dragging her around any day.

Renge, who took Haruhi repeating the term as confusion, gasped in shock, "Haruhi-chan, you are seriously missing out! I have decided, then. We will definitely go play _Love Love Café _after filming is done today."

"O-kay," Haruhi supplied with a weak smile, but the older girl had already turned away to yell at Hunny; the blonde senior had botched up the scene by tearfully apologizing to the freshmen that he had just demanded money off of.

"Haruhi-hime!" Tamaki called out, running over to the long-haired girl with a bright smile on his face.

"Was my acting impressive?"

"In a sense, I suppose it was," she replied; having been distracted by delivering drinks here and there, she had been unable to actually watch his performance, "Would you like a drink, senpai?"

"Sure," he said with a light blush staining his cheeks. He took the drink that she held out to him and gazed down at the contents. He assumed it was some kind of fruit juice by its color.

"I think I could be a successful actor. To be honest, it's not that bad being like this for a while," the blonde said before raising the cup to his mouth and taking a sip.

"Personally," Haruhi said, her eyes gazing into his, "I think you're good enough as you are now."

Tamaki felt his face turn red. Why did she have to say such cute words when she was already ten times cuter than usual in the cute kitty-maid cosplay?!

"Haruhi-hime really thinks that?" Tamaki asked with teary eyes.

"Yes," she replied with a smile before explaining, "If there were any more negative aspects, it'd only be more troublesome."

Tamaki felt his soul leave him as she continued to smile at him. Such words with no ill intention attached and from such a cute girl too. It could definitely be considered a low blow.

"Haruhi-chan!" Renge called out as she stuck her head out from around the corner, "I need you to help me with something."

"Yes? What is it?" Haruhi asked as she walked around the corner to join the self-proclaimed club manageress. She (obliviously) left Tamaki by himself to sulk over her words.

"I'd like for these two to be in the film!" Renge said as she extended her hand to the two class D students that were … blushing? Perhaps they were just nervous or hot. The weather seemed surprisingly warm that day.

"Why is she wearing that?" the boy with spiky hair questioned under his breath to the girl next to him.

Haruhi Fujioka, the cute female student that had recently joined Ouran Academy high school branch as a Class A scholarship student, was dressed in a kitty-maid cosplay.

"Isn't it cute? I picked it out!" Renge exclaimed loudly while clapping her hands in delight; her bunny ears bobbed back and forth with her movements.

"Yeah," the rough-looking boy with slightly longer hair said from beside his companion; he looked down at his shoes as he felt his blush deepen even further, "it's cute."

"What did you want my help with, Renge-chan?" Haruhi asked politely, trying to place the conversation back on track; she was totally oblivious as to how uncomfortable her attire was making the Class D students.

"Ah, yes," Renge said, as if she was just remembering what she had called the scholarship student over for, "I want these two to be in the film, so could you please explain to them their roles?"

"What roles?" Haruhi inquired.

"The bad guys!" Renge passionately exclaimed as the guys looked on with irritated expressions, "There should always be bad guys in the climax! The club members will unite upon being hurt by true villains, and then the story can end wonderfully when the villains reform themselves under Kyoya-sama's touching dialogue!"

"Er," Haruhi said, watching the Class D students become increasingly agitated, "Renge-chan. Maybe it's convenient for you, but if you only see people two-dimensionally, don't you think that there's so much you miss? Like, for example, the person's true character?"

Renge looked at her with a bewildered expression. A moment later, she grabbed onto the longer-haired class D student's arm and dragged him behind her, "I don't quite understand what you're saying, Haruhi-chan. Well, anyways," she said to the boy, "please stand over here."

"Hey, you idiot!" the spiky-haired boy shouted at her, "Don't just say whatever you want!"

The boy that Renge had been dragging behind her suddenly pushed her away, shouting, "Don't act so big-headed just because you're from class A."

"Renge!" Haruhi shouted, dropping the serving platter that she had still been carrying along with her before making a mad dash towards the girl, "Watch out!"

The scholarship student felt the effects of her body becoming sandwiched between the iron bars of the lighting structure and the weight of the girl that she had managed to save from the impact that she had just suffered.

"Owch," Haruhi murmured to herself between Renge's frantic screams that searched for reassurance. She wouldn't be surprised to find her back bruised the next day.

"HARUHI!"

Glancing up at the familiar voices despite the pain, Haruhi spotted the twins running towards her at full speed. They were still dressed in the basketball uniforms, she noticed through watery eyes. Her contact had relocated to the bottom of her eye socket (very irritating) when she had crashed against the metal bars.

Seeing the tears threatening to spill from her eyes and quick to interpret the scene, the twins immediately launched themselves at the class D students. They were about to let the guys have a taste of their fists, but Takashi Morinozuka had arrived on the scene before they could land the first punch.

"Let's get out of here," the class D students said nervously, running off before even more dangerous Class A guys came to rip a piece out of them. They really hadn't meant for Haruhi Fujioka to get hurt. Having caused her pain, and having to live with the scorn of all of her admirers was evidently enough punishment since nobody bothered to chase after them.

"Haruhi…" the twins said, embracing her, "we're so sorry that we weren't there."

"It hurts…" Haruhi replied weakly, "you're hurting my back."

The twins immediately dropped their hands to her waist, not wanting to lose contact. However, their hands had dropped a bit too low, brushing against her butt.

"You perverted twins!" Tamaki said, hitting them away from the injured girl, but had only managed to worsen the situation because his hand had ended up on her chest in the process of pushing the twins off of her. No matter how undeveloped it was, touching a girl's chest was the most unwise thing a guy could do.

"Evidently," the twins intoned, "my lord is the actual pervert here."

Haruhi, blushing and angry, turned away from the scene of the blonde chasing the two twins around.

"Cameraman," Renge said, having finally recovered from the shock. Now she was shaking with delight, "Were you able to get that?"

"Yes, perfect!" the cameraman replied with a thumbs up.

"Even though it wasn't planned, we can put Haruhi and me in the film as the young girls that are antagonized by the evil villains, and then the twins launch their attack to avenge the girls, but Morinozuka –"

She was cut off by Kyoya slamming a piece of rock against the camera's lens, thereby destroying the expensive piece of technology in a single blow.

"All the film shot up to now!" the camera man shouted in disbelief.

Renge stared on in confusion.

"I'm very sorry," Kyoya apologized insincerely in a stony tone of voice, "but we can not have any evidence of the club member's violent actions. It's also very unpleasant of you to cause this kind of trouble."

"Why…?" Renge asked with teary eyes, "Kyoya-sama should have said, 'don't worry about it' and pat my head gently. Kyoya-sama should have…"

"But, that's not Kyoya," Tamaki elegantly interrupted, "that's Miyabi-kun."

Haruhi crouched down in front of Renge, holding out a hand to the other girl, "I think that there are various reasons to fall in love. I also think that it must be fun to get to know the person little by little through looking at their personality."

Renge finally understood what the girl in front of her had meant earlier when she had been trying to persuade her to look at a person, not as a two-dimensional character from a video game, but as a real person.

"I'm sorry for causing so much trouble," Renge said with her head bowed.

Haruhi smiled and embraced her in a comforting hug.

.x.o.x.o.x.

"Haruhi-chan!" Renge exclaimed as she entered into the club room waving the latest addition to her dating simulation game collection, _Doki Doki High_, "You really must come over and play this with me! I was able to get a copy early even though it doesn't come out for another month!"

Haruhi glanced at the girl with a nervous smile, "Sorry, Renge-chan, but the twins are forcing me have dinner with them."

"What?!" Renge cried out, turning into her Medusa-like counterpart as she stormed off to resolve the problem, "Hikaru! Kaoru!"

Haruhi smiled into her cup of tea.

"I do believe that I'm rubbing off on you," Kyoya Ootori said as he claimed the seat across from her.

Since he was the only member of the Host Club that was not a regular host and she was the only female that opted not to be hosted, it was only natural that they share a table out of convenience.

He took a biscuit from the small tray in the center of the table that divided them and bit into it.

"It is difficult to imagine that I could ever compare," she replied honestly, perusing through the essay that had been returned earlier that day. She had aced it, of course, but the teacher always wrote such nice comments.

"Indeed it is," he replied, opening up his laptop and delving into his work.

Haruhi turned her attention to gaze out of the window that they were seated next to. The sun was shining, and there were only a few clouds lingering in the sky. She hoped, if anything, that it would remain that way. Even if her life continued to be full of eccentricities such as the Host Club and Ouran High School in general, she hoped the sun would always continue shining.

"_Mother in heaven, please keep watching over me…"_

_

* * *

_This chapter was really based off of the manga -- the conversations, that is. Ah, and I finally gave Haruhi an official membership status in the club. Even though she isn't hosting, I have as much fun dressing her up in outfits as the twins do. By the way, the ending kind of hints at her fear of thunder, if you didn't understand why it ended like that. However, that's not going to show up for a few more chapters. I'm also contemplating writing a Hollywood arc or something in which the twins drag Haruhi to California with them and adventure (and the Host Club) follows; I'm thinking of something along the lines of a fashion show or movie. Anyways, see you next chapter and thank you for all of your kind reviews. 


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